smoking a ham

[Chuck52]

I know this has probably been covered in some of the smoking threads, but a new smoking thread can't hurt!

With four nurses in the mix, it turns out my family probably won't be able to come up with just one day we can all get together for Christmas this year. My wife is working 12 hour shifts both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! So, since I'm going to be on my own for that time I was thinking I'd like to smoke a ham partly because smaoked ham tastes just as good cold as right out of the smoker. I guess the same might be said about smoked turkey. but we had turkey for Thanksgiving and I prefer ham anyway. However, I've never smoked a ham. What kind of ham have folks smoked? I'm thinking a "fresh" ham might be kinda hard to work with. That big a chunk of raw meat would have to be smoked real slow and long to make sure it was done to the bone, wouldn't it. So maybe the way to go is one of the cooked hams, which are more common anyway. "Baking" a ham is mostly just warming it up and putting a glaze on it, but smoking one of those might yield something special. If I wanted to spend the money, I could smoke a country cured ham, but unfortunately most of my family don't like country ham as much as I do. So, what kind of ham have you smoked, for how long, and how did it come out?

Chuck

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Now you're talking turkey Chuck. I usually try and smoke a ham at least at one of the two holidays this time of yr.

Here is what I do and no complaints from anyone. I'll buy one of the low cost hams you find on sale this time of year. Lots of water has been added in the curing process. I'll slice the ham, completely boning it. Slices are about 3/16" think. I'll place in the smoker and do a cold (low temp) smoke for 2-4 hrs depending upon how strong of a smoke flavor you are trying for. The water in the ham and the cold smoke makes for a slices that is not all dried out, they are still moist when ready to come out. Remove the ham from the smoker and package and place in the frig overnight. This permits the moisture and smoke flavor to equalize between all the meat. The day we serve, take the meat out of the package and reheat.

IMO as I'm not trying to cure/smoke for long term storage, it only takes a couple hrs in the smoker to impart that very desirable smoke flavor.

Being ham/pork I typ use apple and/or cherry wood. Apple goes very well with pork and it is not as strong as mesquite or some other woods.

Oh, that ham bone, makes for a great pot of bean soup with home made cornbread. I'll also cube a slice of the smoked ham and put it in with the soup for added flavor.

 

[Chuck52]

That sounds like a plan. Apple wood is my favorite smoking wood, and is what I have. I also have some Bradford pear wood that is about interchangeable with the apple. The leftovers and the hambone are a big part of wanting to do a ham instead of a turkey. Split pea soup is one of my favorite ways to get as much as possible out of a ham.

I picked up a Boston Butt roast because it was cheap, and I might also smoke it. However, I prefer that cut done on the rotisserie with lots of garlic and herbs stuck in it, so the ham is still gonna be the centerpiece of my come-by-when you can Christmas this year.

Chuck

 

[Bird]

It's kind of been traditional for me to cook the turkeys and a brother to bring a ham at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Of course, he just does the ham in the oven indoors, and for the past 5 years, I've just been cooking the turkeys indoors. But this time for Thanksgiving, I fried 2 turkeys. I like smoked turkey, but have never tried to smoke a whole turkey or a ham because I think those just have to be done at too low a temperature for too long a time.

But right now, I have a little 13 pound turkey in the freezer. If the weather cooperates, I'll fry it. If not, I'll cook it in the oven indoors. But I recently experimented with some injectable marinades in a turkey roast, a pork loin, and an eye of round beef roast and then cooked them in the smoker. That just turned out great. So no matter how I cook that whole turkey, I'll be doing those other things in the smoker for Christmas.

 

[jdbower]

Some good information here (especially in the first reply), but a low-and-slow for a large ham is probably in the 10-20 hour range. In my experience one of the most important parts of a cook is the proper brine and rub, even a pre-cooked ham in an oven may benefit from these.

 

[WarrenF]

My only question is this. How in the world can you hold the turkey or ham up to your lips....and what kind of paper do you wrap it in? Seems to me that it would really be too wet to light. LOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[MarkV]

Chuck this is how we do it and it has been 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

 

[jinman]

Chuck this is how we do it and it has been 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 ｽ tablespoons of veggie oil, 1 teaspoon of dry mustard and ｽ 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 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

Mark, I have been remiss by not thanking your for this recipe. I followed your recipe for rub and basting sauce almost exactly as written with the exception of a little less cloves. I used the glaze mix packet that came with the ham. Instead of water in the glaze, I used pineapple juice and honey as you suggested.

My ham was the hit of our Thanksgiving meal. Everyone loves turkey, but the ham almost disappeared. I can recommend your recipe to anyone. It's really tasty. I also recommend one of the MasterCraft electric smokers to anyone for their Christmas list. I love mine. The control I have over the heat and smoke is perfect. I'm a smokin' rookie, but this makes me look like a pro.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Some good information here (especially in the first reply), but a low-and-slow for a large ham is probably in the 10-20 hour range. In my experience one of the most important parts of a cook is the proper brine and rub, even a pre-cooked ham in an oven may benefit from these.

Low and slo is the correct way to do a proper smoke with a large chunk of meat and needing to fully cook. The method I mentioned above was specifically for a cooked ham, one that would be eaten soon. By slicing before placing on the smoker it doesn't take long for the smoke to permeate the thin slices like it would if smoked whole. Some people don't like the dry nature if let in the smoker for a long time. Another reason for using one of the hams that has been pumped with water, stays moist.

If one is really interested in smoking meats and such, try out Smoking Meat Forums - Welcome to Smoking Meat Forums! everything you ever needed to know about smoking. Good people that are helpful. The rub recipe Jeff sells is GREAT.

 

[MarkV]

Mark, I have been remiss by not thanking your for this recipe. I followed your recipe for rub and basting sauce almost exactly as written with the exception of a little less cloves. I used the glaze mix packet that came with the ham. Instead of water in the glaze, I used pineapple juice and honey as you suggested.

My ham was the hit of our Thanksgiving meal. Everyone loves turkey, but the ham almost disappeared. I can recommend your recipe to anyone. It's really tasty. I also recommend one of the MasterCraft electric smokers to anyone for their Christmas list. I love mine. The control I have over the heat and smoke is perfect. I'm a smokin' rookie, but this makes me look like a pro.

Jim, glad you enjoyed it. Being from Texas I would have thought you might add a little cayenne red pepper to the basting sauce. I do that at times for a little extra flavor.

MarkV

 

[Chuck52]

I hadn't thought of using a spiral sliced ham, but that sure sounds good, as does the recipe. I'll have all day both Christmas Eve and Day, so I get to choose when to go for it. I may substitute some maple syrup for the honey because we brought back the syrup from our trip to New England this fall. I bet I get visitors when word gets around that the old man is doing a ham even if there's no good time for the whole family to gather. Three out of four of the nurses are the womenfolk, so we may be looking at a guy gathering.....with ham who needs side dishes???!!!

Chuck

 

[MarkV]

Chuck, with the wife working Christmas Eve and Day you should smoke up two and bring one to the hospital for the nurses/employee lounge. As you mentioned it is pretty good cold or hot. Some of the small party buns, mustard, mayo, KFC cold slaw and your a hero. It is an easy cook if you have a smoker that you can monitor the temps. with. If not, it is a cooked ham so error on the conservative side for temp and time.

Good idea using the Maple syrup. That is what makes smoking fun, everyone has their own secret touch. I had one but I told Jim about Cayenne pepper in the basting/mopping sauce.

MarkV

 

[jeffinsgf]

Great thread, and I'm getting to it late, but here are my experiences.

First, I do a lot of smoking. I have a Big Green Egg and do a lot of low and slow 12 to 20 hour cooks for pulled pork, brisket, etc. Recently I have started to learn how to brine and cure, as well. I haven't tackled a full ham yet, but I wanted to throw into this discussion that a "fresh" ham isn't going to taste like ham at all without a significant investment of time and effort. The brining and curing process is days or weeks in preparation to smoking.

So if you want it to taste like "ham", you're on the right track to buy a fully cooked ham. Among smokers what're you're getting ready to do is called "double smoking". The ham is already smoked, but you're going to add more smoke in the re-heating process. I do this a lot. It's one of our sure fire winners when we're having company. I have one "foodie" friend that spent a weekend with us back in the summer who still talks about the ham I fixed every time we talk.

Of course, the most important part is to start with a really good ham to begin with. I personally am not a fan of spiral sliced hams. They're convenient, no doubt, but I think they dry out more than an unsliced ham. I also value the bone in a ham. I think it adds flavor, and it's going to be a part of a great pot of beans once the ham has been carved away from it.

Go the the meat department of your favorite supermarket and talk to the manager. He should be able to recommend a favorite fully cooked bone in ham. Name brands are tricky, because some of the best hams are locally or regionally produced.

If I remember right, the package on most hams says to heat at 325 for 20 minutes per pound, to an internal temperature of 140 degrees. So, you need a smoker or grill where you can control the temperature accurately over several hours. Ham will absorb a great deal of smoke, and it is easy to get carried away and make it too smoky. I use just a few chunks of hickory in the coals in the early part of the cook. Use a drip pan under the ham with no coals directly under the meat. You didn't say what you were doing this in, but whatever you use, you want an indirect heat, carefully controlled, and just a hint of smoke.

Glazing is another personal choice. I'm not a huge fan of syrupy glazes, but I know I'm the exception, not the rule in this case. Most people love the combination of salty ham and sweet glaze. Molasses can make a very interesting glaze that will be unlike most that your guests will have tried. Molasses, bourbon and a shot of espresso is one I'm going to try this Christmas.

 

[Chuck52]

I've got an electric smoker....can't recall the name....and it lets me control the temperature fairly well. The darn chip container never worked because it just didn't get hot enough to char the wood, but placing chunks of wood right on the heating element works fine. There's a built-in pan for whatever liquid you want to use, but another design flaw (IMHO) is that it shares space below the grids with the smoker box. Drips go every where instead of just into the pan. I'm going to put a full-sized drip pan on top of the existing pan and have that for whatever liquid I use. I can easily keep this in the 200-225 degree range. The main problem is that I'll have to go pick up dear wifey at the end of the day, so I won't be able to indulge in the usual beverages while carefully watching the smoking process.

OTOH, since I'll have to stay sober anyway, I'll have lots of time to make other things that can be consumed on a whenever-someone-drops-by time schedule. I've got some homemade horseradish that would go good in some kind of roasted potato dish. I remember having that one Christmas, so it is probably a Southern Living recipe. Then there's deviled eggs with just a touch of horseradish in them. Horseradish slaw? Maybe. I have a feeling my place will be popular for the drop-by crew.

The idea of taking a ham to the hospital is a maybe. I'll have to see how SWMBO feels about that.

Chuck