Smokin' Question

[dooleysm]

Since you guys seem to be the experts, I thought I'd ask here...

I'm smoking a ham to take to our family Thanksgiving. I'm going to smoke it and slice it on wednesday. I am planning to put it in pans to reheat on Thursday. Normally when we roast a ham we have a big pool of drippings in the bottom of the pan that I pour over the sliced leftovers so they stay moist for later reheating.

I don't want to use the drippings from the smoked ham, since they'll be dripping down into the nasty water pan. Any advice for keeping the ham slices moist for the next day eating?

 

[jinman]

Drape bacon over it when you reheat. If you cook it low and slow, most of the juices will stay inside during smoking. You could also inject the ham with some Amaretto mixed with pineapple juice and lemon before cooking. I recently injected some pork loin with beer and butter before smoking. It is moist and delicious with no extra basting when reheating.

 

[jdbower]

What are you cooking it in? The key to real moisture is to keep things moist inside the cooker and prevent a lot of needless airflow. If you're smoking in a steel cooker not only is there a lot of airflow but you'll also need to keep the fire going much hotter as you'll lose a lot of heat as it radiates out through the sides.

In an ideal world you should look into a nice ceramic and you'll never look back. On a budget the Big Green Egg is an excellent choice but the Komodo Kamado is the top of the line (and has a great forum ).

 

[MarkV]

Shawn this is the smoked ham we do and it seems to be well received.

Take your normal 6 lbs. ready to eat smoked ham from the store. Cover with your favorite rub, foil it and let it sit in the frig over night. Mix a baste of 3/4 cup chicken stock, 3/4 cup pineapple juice, 1 ½ tablespoons of veggie oil, 1 teaspoon of dry mustard and ½ teaspoon of cloves. Heat on the stove until well mixed.

Smoke the ham for 6 hours between 200 and 225 degrees basting once an hour. Place the ham on the smoker with the cut end down. I use the spiral cut hams for ease of serving. If I were cooking the day before I would leave the ham as a whole to reheat.

To add a honey glaze to the ham just mix up ½ cup honey, ½ cup of pineapple juice, 1 teaspoon of dry mustard and a bit of cloves. Brush on a 4 or 5 times during the last hour and it leaves a nice honey glaze on the meat.

MarkV

 

[scott_vt]

To add a honey glaze to the ham just mix up ｽ cup honey, ｽ cup of pineapple juice, 1 teaspoon of dry mustard and a bit of cloves. Brush on a 4 or 5 times during the last hour and it leaves a nice honey glaze on the meat.

MarkV

Good Mornin Mark,
Very good advice ! And your makin me very hungry much too early in the day !

 

[dooleysm]

I'm doing a whole ham, since that's what I have already, from a whole hog we bought back in the spring. I've got a Weber charcoal smoker, the kind that looks like a black bullet.

 

[MarkV]

Shawn I don’t see why you could not use the basting mix we use like you normally use the drippings from cooking to keep things moist for reheating.

Happy Thanksgiving,

MarkV

 

[scott_vt]

In an ideal world you should look into a nice ceramic and you'll never look back. On a budget the Big Green Egg is an excellent choice but the Komodo Kamado is the top of the line (and has a great forum ).

Good Afternoon Jeff,
Both of those smokers are beauties, but the Komodo is out of my price range ! I looked at the Big Green Egg, and didnt see a price. I was wondering if you had a ball park price on that unit ?

 

[jdbower]

The BGEs come in a variety of sizes and prices, they don't officially sell over the Internet, but eBay has one in the $300 price range. There's a Dealer Locator in the upper left of their website where you can try to find a local distributor. Feel free to join us on the KK forums anyway, lots of great experience there no matter what you cook on. Some others you can look into are Primo and GrillDome, both in the BGE range but BGE tends to have the most distributors and a cult following. The Naked Whiz is also a great resource for both ceramic cooking and lump charcoal, and perfectly work-safe despite the name!

 

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Jeff,
Thanks for the info ! I dont know if you followed my Smokin thread on Rural living forum earlier this year, but I had great fun with my little Brinkman this past year ! I actually had some pretty good success with the smaller cuts of meat on that unit. At some point I would like to upgrade, I was quite interested in the units Bird and Jinman bought also.

BTW I must have done something right, because my youngest boy, 25, bought me a bunch of wood chips for my birthday !