Fresh ham on the WSM


 
S Wagner

S Wagner

TVWBB Member
Anybody have any good recipes/techniques for doing a fresh, uncured ham on the WSM? Starting to plan for our annual Christmas sweater party, and I'm thinking this sounds like the perfect dish. I've seen a few different recipes, but they vary greatly (I.e. brine vs injection, sweet glaze vs dry savory rub, etc...). I welcome any tips that you may have!
 
Assuming that you mean fresh pork, uncured when you say uncured ham, you will need to cure the fresh pork otherwise it is basically pulled pork from a leg rather than a shoulder. http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/curing_ham.html Will get you started. My brother makes them all the time and then smokes them on an OTG and they are simply amazing. BTW - DO NOT mess with the curing process. Follow it to a T.
 
I've cooked an uncured picnic a while back that turned out pretty good. Like Tom said basically I cooked it until it was pulled pork. I could have cooked a bit less for slicing. I think I recall TonyR doing one as well.

I saw that wet brine cure on Amazingribs but it'll have to wait. I have been prohibited from experimenting for T Day.
 
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Well a "picnic ham" is part of the shoulder and usually is used for pulled pork. Never messed with a fresh actually ham.
 
Yeah, I was thinking of doing a fresh, uncooked, uncured ham. I was watching an older episode of BBQ Pitmasters recently, and fresh ham was one of the mystery items. Looked really good, and the final products definitely resembled something closer to a picnic shoulder or Boston butt, as opposed to your classic ham. In any case, I was just curious to see if anybody has gone that route before.

Tom, thank you for the link! For this cook, I don't think I'm going to cure the ham, but that looks like a great method for future cooks!

If anybody has gone the uncured route for fresh ham, I'd still welcome any recipes. Thanks again everybody for your input so far!
 
I would brine it for a couple of days. 3-2-1 method.(3L water,2DL salt & 1 tablespoon of sugar) Smoke it cold to an internal of 72-76c. Take it off and brush it with a coarse Mustard/egg mix and finish it of with a light dust of breadcrumbs. Back on the grill untill golden.

Something like this:
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Daniel;
That is a FINE lookin' ham, indeed!

Thanks for sharing with us...

I can't help the O.P. as I have never done a fresh ham. Hm-m-m-m, maybe later...

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
I did one once, and i cooked it like it was a pork butt. Well, its NOT a butt, so don't cook it like one. Cook it like a ham. It doesn't have the fat content of a butt so it will be really dry if you cook it like that.
I think you want to shoot for 160°i.t.
 
Thanks again for all the feedback! S.Six, you touched on another question I had, regarding hot 'n fast, vs. low 'n slow. I usually cook my butt's low 'n slow, and the recipes that some of the other posters have put out have called for hot 'n fast. I'm assuming hot 'n fast is the way to go for a fresh ham? Would a low 'n slow cook (225 - 250) dry out this particular cut of meat?

Also, should I go full or empty water pan? (again, I usually use a full water pan for low 'n slow butts, but I'm new to fresh hams).
 
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I don't see why you couldn't go L&S for a fresh ham if you are going to slice it. Take it till 135-140 than strip the rind ( which should be like shoe leather in this instance ) Than score the fat, bump up the heat ( like 350 ) and take it to 150ish. Let it rest than slice/enjoy.:wsm:

Tim
 
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