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Easter Ham for me too!

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Black_Badger
Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
in EggHead Forum
Growing up in a Jewish family we didn't eat a lot of Easter ham (for obvious and plentiful reasons, haha) but this one is going with us to a friend's house tonight. It's been on at ~300 since around 11 am (almost 5 now) and I didn't even check the IT since I can see it looks/feels about right. I made up a glaze with maple syrup, AC vinegar, pie spices, dry mustard, red pepper, and a splash of scorpion pepper vodka; very much a sweet/heat sort of thing. It's FTC'd right now but I had a couple questions for you guys:

1) This amount and color of smoke has been coming out of the Egg ALL DAY (see pic # 1)! I did put in quite a bit of apple chunks to really hit this ham with the smoke but I'm still surprised to see this; I though it would thin/lighten significantly. It's a mildly cold day and has been raining on/off the whole time plus I had a shallow water pan in for the whole cook. Any thoughts on why I might be seeing so much of this heavier and whiter than normal smoke? Is some of this water vapor???

2) Possibly related to question 1 but I did get a bit of a bitter taste on the trial bite I had earlier. Granted, the glaze above is pretty flavor packed and may have had too much AC vinegar in proportion to the syrup but I'm curious if I could have picked up some bitter smoke taste. I would not say the smoke smells acrid (in fact it smells pretty good, as usual on the XL) but it has been heavier than expected. Will report later on how it was after a rest, but I'm holding out hope the whole is better thn the little nibble I grabbed.

Thanks for looking and for sharing your thoughts.

Cheers all -
B_B
Finally back in the Badger State!

Middleton, WI
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  • Robo2015
    Robo2015 Posts: 267
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    Looks good to me!
    A Lonely Single Large Egg

    North Shore of Massachusetts
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  • onedbguru
    onedbguru Posts: 1,647
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    looks good!!! 

    we typically do not do "traditional" holiday meals.. Today: boeuf bourguignon

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  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
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    Quick post dinner update; ham was EXCELLENT! Lots of good smoke flavor accented by an amazing sweet/spicy glaze. Rave reviews all around, including the kids. This is a family we often share dinner with and whom we've shared egged briskets with many times and they all thought it was the best things we've had so far. That's not to say all my briskets are perfect by any means, but a few of them have been pretty damn good...

    Not sure where all that bitterness came from on the first trial bite but it was certainly an anomaly.

    Cheers all -
    B_B
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI
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  • bhedges1987
    bhedges1987 Posts: 3,201
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    Looks good!

    Kansas City, Missouri
    Large Egg
    Mini Egg

    "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" - Gandalf


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  • HendersonTRKing
    HendersonTRKing Posts: 1,803
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    That looks great!  Was it a "green" ham??  Did you skin/trim/cure it?  No matter the upbringing or traditions, once you have a fresh ham, you never go back.  
    It's a 302 thing . . .
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  • Chef_Hobo
    Chef_Hobo Posts: 70
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    How early did you put the glaze on?  I usually reserve the glaze for the last half hour only.  The sugars will burn up and will give off a "bad" smoke if you have it on much earlier.
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  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
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    Hi guys,
    Thanks for taking a look.

    @HendersonTRKing This was a smoked, bone in, skinless, shankless ham that was just under 20# total. I was a little surprised/confused at first about what bone-in shankless meant but it was VERY good. I had looked into getting an unsmoked ham but the local butcher shop wanted $7.50/# for Berkshire and I just couldn't justify it...

    @Chef_Hobo I put the glaze on through out the cook (a light coat every 45 minutes). Part of the reason I was concerned about bitterness initially was exactly what you mentioned and I thought 'ah crap, I screwed this up'. That being said, after a moderate FTC and a bit of a rest it was really good and the 'skin' that developed was the best part! I hadn't thought about the glaze itself generating that thicker smoke but it's a very good suggestion. I was using a water filled drip pan above a stone but the ham was wider than the pan so some of the glaze was getting onto the hot stone...

    Cheers all -
    B_B 
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI
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