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Help! Any ham experts out there?

The family has informed me they'd like for me to smoke a ham for Thanksgiving.  I have never done one on the BGE.  I need any and all suggestions on type of ham to buy, preparation, temperatures, times, glaze, etc.
Brighton, IL (North East of St. Louis, MO)

Comments

  • I'm no expert (this is my first) but I'm doing the ham from the "Charcuterie" book. It's an 8 day cure with a 24 hour rest in the fridge before smoking. Going to get a fresh ham today I can post the recipe later if you like
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • jlsm
    jlsm Posts: 1,011
    For something truly sublime, cure your own and then smoke in the Egg. Lots of folks have great luck using cured ham from the store, though. Search. Or I'm sure someone will chime in.


    *******
    Owner of a large and a beloved mini in Philadelphia
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    I'd suppose the family is asking for a "smoked" already cured and smoked ham. In other words, one finished on the Egg, using the Egg as a smoker.

    The best I've done was using a recipe called "Dr. Chicken's Double Smoked Ham." There are 2 versions floating around. The first calls for too much orange extract in the injection. Do a search, it is quite popular. I used the earlier recipe w. too much orange extract, but the ham was still ridiculously rich and delectable.

    If you just want to smoke a fresh ham, do it like a big pork roast. Slice off any skin, or as much as you can. Give it a light rub, and cook it fairly hot, at least 300F, until the internal is about 155F. Use apple or maple for the smoke. The meat will still have some chew, and be a little pink, but be very moist.
  • Egret's maple bourbon ham is amazing.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Egret's maple bourbon ham is amazing.

    I'm finishing mine with that. Booze and pig parts are pretty much right up my alley
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,661
    dr chickens is the best ive done,, you need to mail order ingrdiants know or you will never have them in time, some arent easy to find in the stores
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • John prepares his a day early. Really good method!

    Description: Maple-Bourbon Ham
    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

    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

    Instructions:

    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° F. 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° F. (this should take about 5 hours).

    Notes: If cooking a large ham, or, two or more butts or shanks you can omit the raised grid if you're experiencing a "fit" problem and just cook on the regular grid.
    Number Of Servings: Source:
    Vegetarian: Yes Time To Prepare:
    Date: Tue 29 Dec 2009 18:20:51 EST Viewed: 4595 times
    Author: egret Email:

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337

    egret's ham is awesome. i resisted it for a long time but it is really good. i have always favored alton brown's city ham. i have done them on the egg and in the oven . but my last couple hams have been egret's . my next one will be a combonation of the both. i will inject but alton's crust is better IMO.

    here is the link

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/city-ham-recipe/index.html

    HTH

     

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I got my HAM license about 15 years ago.  Don't know if that qualifies me as an expert.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • billyray
    billyray Posts: 1,275
    edited November 2012

    Here's one we do a couple of times a year and really enjoy. From Food Network

    For the glaze:

    For the ham:

    • 1 (8 to 10-pound) smoked, unglazed ham
    • Whole cloves

    For the salsa:

    • 1 red jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
    • 1 pineapple, peeled, cored and quartered
    • 2 mangos, peeled and cored
    • 1 red onion, minced
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1/2 lemon, juiced
    • Salt
    • Pepper

    For the glaze:

    Directions

    Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Once heated, add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions become translucent. Remove pan from the heat and carefully add cognac (the alcohol can flame up). Return the pan to the heat and let reduce for 2 minutes. Add mustards, pineapple juice, apple juice, brown sugar and honey. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Turn down heat to low and allow to reduce by 1/3, about 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside.

    For the ham:

    Preheat Egg to 350 degrees F.

    Slice ham diagonally approximately 1 1/2 to 2-inches deep. From left to right and then right to left, making diamonds on top of ham. In each point of a diamond, press in a clove. Place ham in roasting pan, on cooking rack. Add small amount of water to base of pan to keep drippings from burning. Place in Egg and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

    For the salsa:

    Preheat an oiled grill pan over medium-high heat.

    Grill the pineapple and mango slices until grill marked and caramelized, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove and let cool, then slice fruit into 1/2 by 1/2-inch. Toss in large bowl, with the remaining ingredients to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

    Liberally apply mustard glaze to ham and bake the ham for another 30 minutes or until the glaze begins to turn brown and caramelize. Remove, cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve with salsa.

     

    Felton, Ca. 2-LBGE, 1-Small, PBC, PK360, Genesis Summit, Camp Chef Flattop, Smokefire 24, Traeger Pro Series 22 Pellet with a Smoke Daddy insert, Gateway 55 Gal. drum, SNS Kettle w/acc.
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    What about @Mickey Naked Ham? Nothing on it just smoke. Had it at Plano and it was good.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    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. Thank you Wayne (Thirdeye)for the hand holding. Also thanks to Richard and Gary (Village Idiot)and Kent and Chubby for all the emails and calls on 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 pecan and cherry chunks. Cooked at 300 till 145/155. I did score the ham deep.
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • I did this one for my wife's work party and it got devoured.

    Easy ingredients:
    8 oz Pure Maple
    1 can of concentrate frozen orange juice, pineapple juice works well also or a mixture.
    Favorite rub - I used DP’s Raging River which was a great choice for this cook.
    1 tsp cinnamon (optional and left out of this cook)
    Dash of clove (optional and left out of this cook)

    I like to find a pre cooked/smoked spiral ham that is in natural juices (no water added). This was a fully cooked but not smoked so I had to make up for that on the egg.

    Took the ham in the cryovac and slit the top of the cryovac and drained the remaining liquid in the package and remove the absorbent pad.

    Inject the ham as full of Maple Syrup as possible, I got the full 8 oz in this 10 pounder. When the maple begins to seep out of the cuts I move the injector to a new spot. As can be seen in picture 2 the maple begins to gather outside the ham at the bottom of the package. I try to use the same injection hole and go at different angles to reach all around the ham. I used 5 points of injection in this ham.

    Egg stabilized at 300° for this cook. Setup is indirect and raised grid and a drip pan Hickory wood for smoke flavor.

    300° to 350° is a good cooking/re-heating temperature. Plan on 10 to 15 minutes per pound.

    In the disposable foil pan put one can of concentrate orange juice in the foil pan Pour out all the juices & maple syrup into the foil pan from the slit in the tip of the cryovac.

    Cut the cryovac all the way down to the bottom of the ham on both sides for easy removal from the cryovac, remove the plastic bone protection disc from the bone and move the ham to the foil pan bone down. Keep in mind this is a spiral cut so make sure you are careful when moving from the dish to the pan.

    Let the egg do its magic.

    Heated to 140° internal and it’s time to pull and close down the egg.

    The meat under the liquid level was fantastic and the reason I will use a full can on concentrate on the next cook. The rest of the ham was fantastic, the best cook yet.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Welcome to the Swamp.....GO GATORS!!!!
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273

    I need some help.  Want to do a ham.

    Confused - should I try to find a raw ham?   I really do not want to do the whole brining process to turn a piece of pork into a ham.   Call me lazy.   What should I look for in the store?   and what kind of store will have what I need?

    Not really wanting to buy something that is already cooked then just warm it up on the Egg with some smoke.   Looking for middle ground?

     

    Cookin in Texas
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    You can buy cured ham.  If you don't want to cure it, that's really your only choice outside of buying a pre-cooked, cured ham.  Check the local grocery, then move to upscale.

    Recooking a cured, cooked ham can be as good as anything you've ever eaten.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Thanks for all of the input. Several of these look good. I'll keep you posted.
    Brighton, IL (North East of St. Louis, MO)
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273
    thanks nola
    Cookin in Texas
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    anytime, boatbum
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • I always appreciate your input, Nola.
    Brighton, IL (North East of St. Louis, MO)
  • Mickey said:
    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. Thank you Wayne (Thirdeye)for the hand holding. Also thanks to Richard and Gary (Village Idiot)and Kent and Chubby for all the emails and calls on 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 pecan and cherry chunks. Cooked at 300 till 145/155. I did score the ham deep.

    Do you remove the skin from the ham before smoking????
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX