Egret's Ham. WOW.

snake701uk

Crime Scene

Place: - Melbourne (FL)
Date: - 9th April 2011.
Event: - Sunshine State Egg fest.
Time 9:09 AM.
Culprit: - Egret!!!!

Riccardo, my college and myself stayed in the Hilton, so we wandered down the beach, with coffee in hand to the fest. Lovely sunny morning. We could start to smell the fest from about half way down. We checked in and said hi to a few people. Then went outside to the fest. First stop (taste), Egret’s ham. Riccardo is a very good home cook, but had never seen a BGE before. He tasted the ham, looked me in the eyes and said in Italian “You have to make us this”. By us he means other work colleges.
I then tasted it and understood why. So so special. I spoke quickly to Egret to understand more, but we then moved on to leave space for others. At least 20 times during that day, Riccardo mentioned the ham. Same the day after when we went to Mexico. At least 10 times a day he mentioned “the ham” for the rest of the week’s trip. Still every day he asks at what point I am in my plans to make it! He has now obviously promised many people that I will make it for half of the company!

So now the fun starts and I have to make it. On this forum there have been many recent posts on hams. Most seem awesomely good. Most recipes call for “cooked” ham. Of course in Italy we have amazing cooked ham. However there is no way you could take one of those and cook it for another 5 hours!!!!! It is ready for serving (eating) as is. The forum and recipes on the net show all different types of “meat” pre-cooked, cooked, raw, injected, brined, spiral cut, bone in, bone out etc. Having spoken here to 4 butchers and a pig farmer, it seems the closest I can get is an injected prepared RAW ham. But that does not mean we have to stop there.

The definition of ham off the net: - “Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially pig. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured”.
So having decided that cooked Italian Prosciutto is not adapt for such a cook, I have to look further.
Egret and others call for bone in ham!
Possiibilities: -
1) Buy a cut of RAW prepared and injected ham.
2) Buy a cut of RAW thigh of the hind leg of a pig. Then inject it.
Both might have to be pre-cooked but I have no idea. Let alone how!

3) Buy a ready to eat (not cook) Italian Prosciutto cotto (no bone). And cook for the 30 mins before I ruin it. Nobody here seems to think that an Italian Prosciutto cotto could take hours of smoking and cooking more! I could try with a small piece and see what happens for a few hours.

4) The spiral cut ham seems great. But must be cooked or pre-cooked etc. Then I have to cut it. LOL.

I guess the ham has to be totally trimmed of skin fat etc. Please confirm.

As you will have all guessed, I have a total confusion here and having read other posts I am not alone. I could be wrong and should just use a pre-cooked ready to eat ham. I just don’t know.

One of the major references on this forum is Egret’s ham. Having tried it and met the great guy I can understand why.

John we all bow to you!

Thanks for any detailed help that can be given.

Andy

milesofsmiles

Where is the recipe?

fishlessman

i believe he uses a precooked smoked ham, when done its a double smoked ham. i wouldnt use a spiral cut for this but some have

stike

i won't speak for egret, but if you can find a cured ham (not a fresh/uncured pork leg), whether precooked or not, you will be fine.

if it is a commercially prepared and sold ham, you won't need to trim anything.
spiral cut would work too.

if it is the ham cut, but uncured, and fresh, it is simply a pork leg roast. you could then cure it yourself, then either cold smoke it for flavor, or hot smoke it (for flavor and to cook it). then you would have a home made ham, and you could proceed from there

egret

Well, that's the nicest, albeit longest, compliment I've ever received. Thank you for that!
I'm not sure how to answer your questions without knowing just what your Italian hams actually are. If they're cured hams I would give that a shot. After all, the ones I use are cured and already cooked as well.
If you can get a boneless ham that is cured that should turn out well, too. Last year our dear friend "chubby-love" used this recipe for a fresh, uncooked, uncured ham and he said it turned out great.
Experiment with what you can find there in your butcher shops. I've never used this recipe on anything but a cooked, cured ham but it probably would be good in some other applications as well.
Good luck with it!

reader40

i did an egret ham for easter and had semi success. I bought a spiral sliced ham. I also bought an uncut ham to do later and will definitely use the same recipe.

i had it on my medium, probe from the lid was touching hte ham so kind of cooked it a little high (300) for about an hr or so and she was looking a little dark on the exterior/flat peice.

I posted some q's a couple days ago and received some great answers that might help out as well. I went the spiral way did so i didn't have to cut the stupid thing. If you choose to, i would maybe smoke at 250 for an hr and then wrap that bad boy in foil and cook for a few more hrs. PRobably won't take that long. Also be careful since the peices are directly or more so directly exposed to the heat they might dry out quicker, hence wrapping in foil.

Like my other post mentions, if you do go sprial, CHECK THE DIRECTIONS ON THE HAM as it might not need very long to cook.

THe rub or sauce, if you want to call, is super good. i just ate some of the left over ham today at work at it was great.

finished product was a hair dry towards the outside but mighty tasty.

snake701uk

I have a meeting with my trusted butcher tonight. We we are really going to watch the soccer and drink beer, but I will use the chance.
I will use the best he can get and risk it. Not warn anybody, so if not ok can have another go. I am looking forward to this challenge.
Thanks. Andy