SMOKED HAM

[Lspeedss]

Oh boy is this good... 6 hrs at 225 under hickory and apple.. Doing a turkey Sunday. Enjoy your Fourth everyone. Eat well and boat safe.

 

[itsdgm]

YUMM!!!

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Hungry.

 

[Bruce]

Did it fall apart?

 

[Lspeedss]

@Bruce Nope it was a cured ham so it stayed firm and textured as you would expect. Just out of this world smoked flavor.

 

[Bruce]

@Lspeedss, I like to smoke them at a lower temperature (perhaps 175F) for 24 hours. This is what they look like when they come out

This thread has more info https://jetboaters.net/threads/bimini-pig-roast-june-2014-bimini-bahamas.15/page-3#post-19589

 

[Lspeedss]

Looks yum. I am going to do a fresh ( uncured) ham next time I do ham in the smoker

 

[Bruce]

@Lspeedss, I tried an uncured ham once. I hope yours turns out better than mine. The hams I smoke have been very slowly smoke cured. On my first attempt the uncured ham had no flavor. I put it in the oven in brine then smoked again. That produced a pulled pork tasting meat.

 

[Lspeedss]

Thanks for sharing @Bruce We get a fresh ham and bury it in salt for two weeks. Wash it and cook it. Never done it on smoker. Looking for that huge pork flavor. I'll let you know.

 

[txav8r]

It looks great and sorry I am so far behind on this thread. I would like to get that fall apart cook from a ham. @Bruce , i know you shared it with me before, but just a grocery store ham? I don't know if I can get the egg as low as 175, but I know I can get 200 for at least 12 hours. I figure it would reach adequate temp in that timeframe, but I expect I would have to reload the firebox beyond that. Anyone know if I can get through immigration in Hawaii with a fully smoked ham? Would it have to be refrigerated?

 

[Bruce]

Mel, I use hams from http://hotspringspacking.com/hot-springs-packing-meats.htm . This is the one that I order

700000 - Home-Cured Ham, bone-in, catch wt., 18-20 lbs. avg., packed 1 piece

They will ship if you have time.

When they are not available I buy a cheap smoked ham at the grocery store and smoke it. In my local Kroger or Harps I would find Petti Jean ham for perhaps $6 a pound while a cheap smoked ham would be around $2.50 a pound.

As for refrigerating we took three days to drive to Bimini. I pulled the hams out of the smoker, deboned and packed them into zip lock bags and placed both of them into one of the factory USDA stamped boxes that I had bought them in. I then placed the box in an otherwise empty ice chest. The ham stayed warm for a day or two. I added ice once it cooled down. Once we arrived in Bimini I put the hams in the refrigerator. I believe the USDA stamped box would have kept me out of trouble with customs. I would not be hesitant to leave the ham unrefrigerated for the flight to Hawaii.

 

[txav8r]

Perfect and informative @Bruce . Since I couldn't get a ham back from hot springs packing this weekend, tell me more about this petit jean ham or a cheap one. Will they fall apart and cook the same way? And did you actually leave the ham off the grill deboned and warm for two days? That would be perfect! To carry it there warm. What I could do is shred it, baggie it, freeze it, and throw it in the carry bag as the ice for our onboard snacks. I would love to have ham sandwiches for the week like that.

 

[Bruce]

Perfect and informative @Bruce . Since I couldn't get a ham back from hot springs packing this weekend, tell me more about this petit jean ham or a cheap one. Will they fall apart and cook the same way? And did you actually leave the ham off the grill deboned and warm for two days? That would be perfect! To carry it there warm. What I could do is shred it, baggie it, freeze it, and throw it in the carry bag as the ice for our onboard snacks. I would love to have ham sandwiches for the week like that.

Just go into your local grocery store and look for a cheap smoked ham that does not look too fatty. You want the least processed ham that you can find. Much of the fat drips off during the long smoke but as you can see in the picture below I want the ham to contain very little if any fat after smoking.

I mix up a mixture of molasses, karo or some other sweet sticky solution with ground pepper, yellow mustard, garlic and a tiny bit of very hot water to make it into a paste. I spread the mixture on the outside of the ham before smoking.

If 200 is as low as the egg will go that is fine. But I feel that you need to smoke it for closer to 24 hours than 12. I assume that you use some sort of water tray in the egg smoking process? I believe it is the long exposure to heat and humidity that causes it to fall apart.

After it is cooked I would pull it apart into large chunks for transportation then pull it into smaller pieces just before eating. This helps keep it moist. I reheated the ham in Bimini in the oven using aluminum pans with some water in the bottom.

 

[txav8r]

I may make a run at this! I sent my thermapen to hawaii however! I ship a box over so we don't carry luggage except for the rollaboards. I got plenty of room in the carryons! And FedEx Office just called...the box is on Maui as of today!

 

[txav8r]

You used hickory and apple? I would use either pecan (similar to hickory in both flavor and genealogy) or mesquite, and apple. I will have to go to the Ceramic Grill Store for anything other than mesquite, apple, peach...I have them. I wonder if the mesquite would be too much? I like it very much on most things, even chicken, it is a sweet wood.

 

[Bruce]

Perfect and informative @Bruce . Will they fall apart and cook the same way? And did you actually leave the ham off the grill deboned and warm for two days? That would be perfect! To carry it there warm.

The cheap ham will fall apart the same way as the one from Hot Springs Packing. The Hot Springs Packing ham is smoke cured while the cheap store ham will likely have been cured with chemicals. Although you might get lucky and find an actual smoke cured ham at your grocery store.

I did leave the ham hot for close to if not for two days. The meat was well sealed in the bags and the temperature was high enough to avoid concerns about bacteria. When I bagged the meat it was almost warm enough to burn my hands.

 

[Bruce]

I have used hickory and apple. I prefer hickory. Either I cut a limb off of a tree and slice it up to use green or I buy 2"x2" chunks at my local butcher shop.

 

[txav8r]

And the hot meat didn't melt the baggies? I will use freezer bags I am sure, but too hot and it wants to melt them.

 

[Bruce]

It was cool enough not to melt the freezer bags but hot enough that it was unpleasant to hold for any length of time. You could let it cool more. I was in a hurry to get to Bimini!

 

[txav8r]

Thanks for the tips @Bruce ! I may have to do this for the trip...no smoker in Hana! I had a wild idea that maybe buy a small egg and leave it there if I could sell it, but not likely, so didn't go that route and I am pretty sure doing a long slow cook in a small isn't possible.