Christmas ham

mattb169

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum so first ill say a little about myself.  I got my egg over the summer and absolutely love it.  I have cooked a pork butt, brisket, pizza, chili, turkey and ribs along with the usual weekly stuff (burgers, chicken breasts, etc) on the BGE.  I live in Kansas City. 

Now on to my post.  My wife wants me to smoke a ham on Christmas eve for my in-laws.  I have a few questions.  I keep seeing that people use a pre cooked ham.  Does that mean you just smoke it and get it up to about 160 degrees?  Any good recipes out there?  Tips, hints?   Thanks in advance!

Matt.

Brisket_Fanatic

Welcome Matt,

Finding an unsmoked ham is rather hard so yes you purchase a precooked ham and then when you had your smoke to the beast it becomes double smoked. Check Egret's Maple Bourbon ham as it is really good

Maple-Bourbon Ham*
by John Hall (egret)

Ingredients :

Maple-Bourbon Paste (recipe follows)
10-12 # cooked, ready to eat ham (bone-in Butt or Shank section)
1/2-1 cup Maple Syrup
Cherry and Apple Chunks

Procedure :

The day before smoking, place ham in a pan flat side down. Inject in multiple locations with maple syrup (use more than 1 cup if it will take it).
Smear the Maple-Bourbon Paste all over the exposed surfaces (except flat side). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator until ready to smoke (You can remove ham from refrigerator up to one hour before cooking).
Stabilize egg at 250° with plate setter (legs up) regular grid with raised grid attached. Put 3 or 4 good size chunks of wood on coals, then place ham on raised grid. Cook until internal temperature reaches 140° (this should take about 5 hours).

Maple-Bourbon Paste

2 Tbls. pure Maple Syrup
2 Tbls. freshly ground Black Pepper
2 Tbls. Dijon or Honey-Dijon Mustard
1 Tbls. Bourbon
1 Tbls. Vegetable Oil
1 Tbls. Paprika
1 Tbls. Onion Powder
2 tsp. coarse Salt, either kosher or sea salt

 

GATraveller

Good question as I'm toying with the idea of doing this myself for Christmas Eve.

Botch

Ditto.  

Scott805

+1 on Egret Ham.  Turned out wonderful!

theyolksonyou

You got your answer so: welcome to the forum!

DMW

All good advice above for double smoked ham.

Now, if you want to start with a fresh ham and have access to curing salt and start soon, you can do this as well:

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1159003/american-style-brown-sugar-glazed-holiday-ham-from-charcuterie/p1

I have done this one and it is really good. 

mattb169

Thanks everybody.

robnybbq

Now the family wants ham for Christmas dinner.

Would a Spiral ham be better or worse for this?

Zmokin

robnybbq said:

Now the family wants ham for Christmas dinner.

Would a Spiral ham be better or worse for this?

some people like the convenience of pre-sliced ham, I don't.  I used to buy them for the convenience, but then decided I didn't like being stuck with pre-sliced leftovers.
I find I prefer to cut my leftovers as I see fit.  for sandwiches, I want thinner slices, so I use my meat slicer for that.  And then I always like to cube some for use in omelets and other dishes.
I also find spiral cuts to not be as moist.
However, if you are going to glaze it and you want your glaze to seep deeper into the meat, a spiral will allow the glaze to penetrate farther, especially if you fan it some while applying the glaze.

fishlessman

this is my favorite but the ingrediants are hard to find

Dr. Chicken’s Double Smoked Ham
Ham should be a fully cooked or partially cooked ½ shank variety or can be shoulder variety (water added can be used, as long as the water added does not exceed 23% water added product.) If it is pre-smoked with hickory, that seems to work out best. Patti/Jean or Cooks among the best, but other varieties can be used!
Glazing Sauce:
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup (use dark grade B real maple syrup if available)(dark grade B has more flavor than grade A)
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 – 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp instant coffee granules (use a good brand because it makes a difference)
1 Tbsp dry ground mustard
2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate (a good brand provides better flavor)
Blend all ingredients in a sauce pan with a wire whip and heat slightly until everything combines into a viscous or thick looking sauce.
Cooking instructions:
Score outer skin of ham to a depth of ½ inch in a crisscross diamond pattern. This will allow the glazing sauce to penetrate below the skin, into the actual ham. Place ham (un-glazed) into a shallow roasting pan or roasting rack. If pineapple and cherries are desired on the outside, add them when you start the glazing process. Cook in oven @ 275° – 300° with a loose tent of aluminum foil over the top for 25 to 30 minutes per lb. Baste with glazing sauce the last hour of cooking time and continue to cook until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140°. Remove from oven and allow to sit covered for 20 to 30 minutes before carving!
Cooking instructions for outdoor cooking:
This can be done on a grill over indirect heat or in a water smoker or other type of cooker, again over indirect heat or “low & slow” type cooking. Do not tent over ham if done on grill, water smoker or other cooker; this would prevent smoke from penetrating the ham.
Place water soaked chunks of mesquite, hickory or pecan (we prefer the smoke of pecan over all the others) on coals 5 minutes before putting ham on cooker. This will allow the ham to obtain maximum smoke flavor during the second cook cycle. ( the first cook cycle is the cycle the processor uses.) If even more smoke flavor is desired, place ham in freezer for 1 to 1 ½ hours prior to cooking to allow outer edges of ham to start to freeze. Go easy on this procedure; you don’t want the ham frozen hard!
Maintain temperature of cooker/grill at 225° to 275° during cook cycle.
If using a water smoker, fill water pan ¾ full with hot water and add 2 cups of orange, pineapple, or orange/pineapple mix, sweetened grapefruit or apple juice to the water. (all of them act as tenderizer as the steam penetrates the meat.) (I use a ¾ full drip pan when cooking on the Eggs, filled with a 50:50 mix of water and orange juice.)
Again, cook for 25 to 30 minutes per lb. until internal temp on the ham shows 140°. A couple of books suggest 145° and 160° respectively. Shirley O. Corriher in her book “CookWise” suggests 140°. We found this to be exactly right. After removing from the Egg, it will climb up to 145° internally. The ham will retain it moistness and the flavor will go thru out the ham this way.
Baste ham with glazing sauce every 10 to 15 minutes during the last hour of cooking time. Glazing compound will burn, so do not start glazing the ham until the internal temp of the ham reaches 120°.
NOTE: The secret to this process is plenty of smoke and the real maple syrup and granular coffee crystals in the glazing sauce. Use a cheaper cut of ham like mentioned before, and people will think you bought an expensive ham that you had to “hock” your kids for! Yuk! Yuk! (see my pun there?) The glazing sauce will give the ham a fantastic taste, smell and color![p]Enjoy!!! El Chefo Dave (aka: Dr. Chicken)[p]Note: Use an injectable marinade such as Tony Chachere’s Pecan-Honey-Praline in the ham just before cooking to “explode” the flavor of the ham. Be sure to use it @ the recommended rate of 2 fl. Ozs. per pound. It really does take that much to do the job right![p]
Dr. Chicken’s Sweet Kiss of Death Injectable Marinade[p]First off, let me give a little background into the idea behind this injectable marinade and the reasoning behind it.[p]Years ago, my Grandma and my Mom both cooked such delightfully good hams at Christmas time; it would make your head swim in delight. The aroma would make our house smell good for days!
Tender, sweet, moist (most of the time) and just plain scrumptious, it was a memory like all of us have. I always wanted to duplicate the recipe. But, by the time I got around to asking my Mom about it, she was nearly bed ridden and had trouble remembering yesterday much less 40 to 50 years ago. Mom passed away 2 years ago last Valentines Day in 2000. But, I’ve continued to search and work at that memorable cooked ham.
Five years ago, I took a challenge from my oldest brother to duplicate that recipe in an outdoor cooker. He said, “It can’t be done!” Any of you that have tried my “Dr. Chicken’s Double Smoked Ham” recipe knows that remark was not true then and is not true now![p]But, in all honesty, even the double smoked ham recipe left something to be desired. Sometimes it left the ham tasting great, but a little too dry. I believe it was Earl or Sprinter or GFW from the BGE user’s forum that suggested I use an injectable marinade in the ham, such as Cajun Injector’s or Tony Chachere’s Honey-Pecan-Praline marinades. Believe me, they both did a great job, but neither of them added the “punch” like I wanted. So, I have kept on trying.[p]Well folks, I think I have come up with what I wanted. Either recipe is a winner, but using them both on the same ham will result in by far the most fantastic tasting ham you will ever try.[p]Please give both recipes a try! You will love the results! I hope too, it will become a “family tradition” like my Mom’s and my Grandma’s was in our family.[p]Ingredients:[p]1 Cup of Good clean water (if your city or well water has an offensive taste, please use bottled water)
1 Cup of light Karo syrup (make sure it is light Karo brand syrup)
1/8 Cup of Amaretto liqueur (use the real stuff it makes a difference)
2 TBS of Watkins brand Butter Pecan extract (this is the only Butter-Pecan extract I could find)
1 TBS of Rum extract (again, I used Watkins because of the better taste than store bought)
1 tsp of Orange extract (this compliments the orange juice concentrate used in the glaze or basting sauce)
1 to 2 TBS Vanilla extract (again, I used Watkins because of taste after the first run)[p]Directions for blending:[p] Into a medium size sauce pan add the water, Karo syrup and Amaretto. Stir frequently and heat very slowly to avoid scorching the sugars in the syrup.
Then, add all the remaining ingredients and continue to stir and heat slowly. When the mix looks uniform in color and smooth, remove mix from the stove and allow it to cool to almost room temperature.[p][p][p]
Dr. Chicken’s Sweet Kiss of Death Injectable Marinade (continued)[p][p]Directions for use:[p]Wrap ham in 2 layers of plastic wrap before starting the injection process.[p][p] Using a marinade hypodermic syringe, inject at least 2 fluid ozs. Per pound of meat in a grid pattern through out the entire ham and don’t be afraid to use up to 3 ounces per pound of meat.[p]Continue to inject the marinade into the ham until the entire amount of marinade is injected evenly into the ham.[p]Cook the ham as shown in the “Double Smoked Ham” recipe. Be sure to you your favorite wood for smoke flavoring.[p]Do not cook the ham beyond 145° internal to prevent over cooking and drying out the ham.[p]Enjoy this recipe and let me know what you think![p]Cheers,[p]Dr. Chicken (aka: Dave Spence)[p]

Mickey

NAKED HAM / SMOKE ONLY Let me start that for the past 6 years i have only cooked Egerts Ham (this is an outstanding ham Egged on the BGE). A short while ago went looking for (did not know this at the time) a naked ham / smoke only. Looking at other ways to do a ham w/o the burbon, maple syrup, brown sugar, NO ANYTHING. Guys this was outstanding ham. It tasted like ham. It was a 7 lb Cooks ham (shank) and NOTHING was put on it (Nothing). Just smoke: both lots of Sugar Maple and cherry chunks. Cooked at 300 till 135. I did score the ham deep. Cooked indirect. New item: just did spiral and worked out fine. Here is the last two:

GATraveller

Wow that seems like a lot of trouble.  

fishlessman

GATraveller said:

Wow that seems like a lot of trouble.  

finding the ingrediants is the hard part, other than that its just an injection and glaze
) or were you talking about mickey's salt and pepper recipe

GATraveller

I was just saying reading all those words seemed like a lot of work.....

fishlessman

GATraveller said:

I was just saying reading all those words seemed like a lot of work.....

thats why i copied/paste, i think the Dr. stands for drunken chicken
)

GATraveller

)

Zmokin

So, why the deep scoring?  What is the benefit of the deep scoring?  Is it to help the smoke penetrate.  I've seen scoring of the fat, but I would worry that scoring so deep into the meat would promote drying out.
How long did your 7 pounder take to cook?  I have a 10.04 lb Cook's Ham I will be smoking for xmas, no Glaze as the wife doesn't like the sweetness of the glaze,

Mattman3969

@Zmokin - on the hams when you deep score you get more consistent smoke penetration. For your 10lber it will take you about 4ish hrs at 325ish to hit 140. If you aren't using a glaze,which I don't I would recommend @mickey - naked ham of sugar maple smoke only. Maple will work if that is all you can find. I've done it with both and it is great.

Zmokin

Mattman3969 said:

@Zmokin - on the hams when you deep score you get more consistent smoke penetration. For your 10lber it will take you about 4ish hrs at 325ish to hit 140. If you aren't using a glaze,which I don't I would recommend @mickey - naked ham of sugar maple smoke only. Maple will work if that is all you can find. I've done it with both and it is great.

I don't have any maple or sugar maple.  I was going to use a mixture of apple and pecan.

Mickey

fishlessman said:

GATraveller said:

Wow that seems like a lot of trouble.  

finding the ingrediants is the hard part, other than that its just an injection and glaze
) or were you talking about mickey's salt and pepper recipe

No salt and pepper. No nothing

Mickey

Zmokin said:

So, why the deep scoring?  What is the benefit of the deep scoring?  Is it to help the smoke penetrate.  I've seen scoring of the fat, but I would worry that scoring so deep into the meat would promote drying out.
How long did your 7 pounder take to cook?  I have a 10.04 lb Cook's Ham I will be smoking for xmas, no Glaze as the wife doesn't like the sweetness of the glaze,

Hair less than 3 hours. Deep score for the smoke.