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Help with Ham.....

Vanzo
Vanzo Posts: 125
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
Was just given a 12# Ziegler Smoked Ham as a late Christmas present. Want to cook it on the Egg but have never cooked one before. Can you guys give me help with dome temp and how long to cook? This was a $45 ham so I don't want to ruin it!!

Thanks for your help, and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Vanzo
Alabama
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Comments

  • boston_stoker
    boston_stoker Posts: 794
    This is what you are looking for: Egret's Smoked Ham.
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    You want to get a fully cooked ham, either a shank or a butt (not the spiral sliced!). You don't need to worry about it drying out! Here's the recipe :
    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). I, sometimes, inject with more maple syrup about one hour before ham is done.

    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
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    don't know the brand, but the key is it is already cooked and smoked so all you are really doing is reheating it. I assume the package has reheating instructions which work fine - after all your BGE is just an oven made of ceramic and kept outside! $45 though??? Somebody is proud of their piggy!
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • Vanzo
    Vanzo Posts: 125
    11.63# @$3.79=$44.08 It says it is "Super Trimmed", I guess you aren't paying for a lot of fat???? Suppose to be some kind of ham they make available at Christmas each year.
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  • Vanzo
    Vanzo Posts: 125
    Stupid question, does "smoked" mean FULLY cooked?
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    typically YES - if it was RAW then that's a whole different set of labebing.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    LOL, but at $3.79 a pound doesn't mean trimmed fat - it means FAT ($$$) added on! Sorry but a ham at $3.79 a pound means somebody (the consumer) got royally screwed!
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • Vanzo
    Vanzo Posts: 125
    Well, ok. Now you've ruined my Christmas!
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  • Buckethead
    Buckethead Posts: 285
    Smoked does not mean fully cooked. The label will tell you that. But at those prices the ham should be fully cooked, trimed, less water added, and do a little dance on the table when served. So after reading the label this should prepare you for what you need to do with your prized pig butt. Fully cooked = less cook time, very little moisture = the longer on the egg = the drier the finished product. The label will tell you how much water is added to your ham. (from 10-40%) Just for reference if the label ever reads "water and pork product" it may put out your fire from all the water. (joking)
    DMo
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  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    http://www.zmeats.com/Recipes/HamsTurkey/tendersmoked.htm
    Pull at 140-145 Internal Temp.I would cook it uncovered on the egg for 1 1/2 to 2 hours then foil and finish ti desired temp.
    Also search Egret's bourbon maple ham in the recipe or search areas of this forum.
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  • Vanzo
    Vanzo Posts: 125
    Thanks Buckethead, finally some useful information! This ham says Water Added but nowhere on it does it say how much. And someone said there would be reheating instructions on it, not on this one!

    I've bought lots of hams in my 63 years but I've never seen one like this. This was given to me by a company that special orders them thru a grocery store here and gives them away at Christmas. It's a Zeigler brand which is popular here in the south. Its shrink wrapped in a special holiday shrink and NOWHERE on it does it have an experation date or "good until _______".

    I've just never cooked, or heated, a ham in my egg and don't want to dry it out. Make give it a go today.

    Thanks for the help,
    Van Kelley
    Demopolis, Alabama
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  • Vanzo
    Vanzo Posts: 125
    Thanks Hoss, this was the kind of information I was looking for. Seems some people just wanted make a big deal about someone paying too much for my Christmas present!!! LOL!
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    not necessarily.
    what does the package say?

    i found nothing on their website.

    regardless, you don't technically need to cook a cured ham, even if it was cold smoked or never smoked at all.

    prosciutto is an uncooked, unsmoked cured ham, for example.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i don't think $45 bucks is a lot for a ham if it is a superlative ham....
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    c'mon... cheap choice beef costs more than that, and ham can be more flavorful.

    some folks look at a ham as an obligatory thing to drop out of agelatin-filled hormel can, and some would seek high and low for an aged, smoked country ham.

    3.49 isn't a rip off if the value is there.

    just as a car may or may not be 'worth' it's price, there will always be someone willing to spend a pantload more for a car than they need to out of the inea of deserving luxury.

    good prosciutto is 20 bucks a pound here, and is the simplest ham a person could make.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    You probably really would not need to foil it at all if you cook it in the Egg.Just be sure to pull it off at 140-145F Internal.It will be great.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    there's no expiration on a ham. that's the whole idea of curing it in the first place

    cook it til it is 140 in the middle. you do NOT need to go higher to be 'safe'. it's probably fully cooked, because likely no artisanal ham would have added water too.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    I paid nearly $40 for a John Morrel E-Z cut.They had other hams for $.77 per pound.I think the quality of the E-Z cut was worth the extra cost.Besides I only buy 1 a year,at Christmas.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    it's worth whatever the customer will pay. you paid more for something that you got value from, right?

    it just isn't right to berate someone for spending 3.49 for a ham, when a straight forward cut of choice ribeye is easily 5.99 to as much as 9.99 in some stores. between a ham off the shelf and a rib-eye from the butcher's case, i'd say the ham has more flavor than the stupormarket beef.

    it's all relative. a drop dead two year old country ham might be 120 bucks, and i guarantee you the person that buys one every year thinks it's is worth it. therefore, it is worth it.

    i $500 dollar bottle of wine really is worth it, unless no one wants to buy it at that price.

    frankly, though, the cheapo supermarket hams are not worth much more than the bargain prices they charge. if there is such a thing as a 'country' ham, and a 'city' ham, perhaps those mass-produced solution added cheap-o hams ought to be called 'factory' hams :laugh:

    my point was that just because a cheap factory ham can be had for fifty cents a pound doesn't mean someone paying 3.49/lb got 'screwed'. that said, i dunno nuthin bout a ziegler. "water added" would make me think it isn't exactly something some little old man labored over and is passionate about :unsure:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Vanzo, enjoy cooking and eating your ham and if you share enjoy sharing. Happy New Year. Tim :)
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    hey, man - I'm sorry I was just stating MY opinion last night. Why anything I said matters is up to you, but it shouldn't matter! especially since you said someone gave it to you. Enjoy your ham and please accept my apology, while I eat humble pie.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    I believe the Zieglers are good quality hams compared to a lot of em,but they ain't no Allan Benton ham. ;)
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  • crghc98
    crghc98 Posts: 1,006
    this actually works fairly well on a spiral sliced...just work it in between slices instead of injecting, and careful not to overcook...
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Done that. Your right. :P
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yeah. the ziegler website seemed to imply they were capitalizing on 'tradition', but still less artisanal than you would hope for.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Buckethead
    Buckethead Posts: 285
    Hi Van
    36 years in the food biz does pay off for some quetions asked. Cure 81 Hormel the first real quality cooked ham was bastardized by many adding more and more water, salt, phosphate to the curing proceess. Like Stike stated get your ham to 140 and you will be happy. I do remember along time ago fruited hams that were produced and boxed for Christmas. It was like fruit cake on top of your ham, minus the cake.
    DMo
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  • Vanzo
    Vanzo Posts: 125
    Hey bud, I was just kidding with you....shoulda put a LOL after my post! I can promise you I don't pay that much for hams normally. Thankfully, one of my vendors does at Christmas....hope I get another one next year!

    Happy New Year to you,
    Van
    ROLL TIDE from Alabama....and go DUCKS, beat Auburn!
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  • Ricklesss
    Ricklesss Posts: 391
    stike wrote:
    not necessarily.
    what does the package say?

    i found nothing on their website.

    regardless, you don't technically need to cook a cured ham, even if it was cold smoked or never smoked at all.

    prosciutto is an uncooked, unsmoked cured ham, for example.


    Prosciutto is definitely yummmy, but I'm wondering why it can be eaten uncooked, unsmoked, just cured, like it is.
    Store bought bacon is the same, and nobody (?) would eat bacon straight out of the package.
    I'm sure I'm missing something basic here...
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  • crghc98
    crghc98 Posts: 1,006
    both are cured, and I would think "safe" to eat raw (though prosciutto is usually cured longer).

    But prosciutto is air dried much like aged beef. Bacon isn't (same with pancetta) and are traditionally cooked. I would venture to say it is essentially a texture thing.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    you can eat bacon raw too. of bacon or prosciutto, one of them has dried to the point where it has much better texture.

    but you don't need to cook it. cooking changes the texture, firms up the bacon, renders some fat, carmelizes sugars. but has nothing to do with food safety
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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