Smoking a Ham


 
Matthew

Matthew

TVWBB Pro
I want to smoke a ham for Easter, and was confused on what kind of Ham to use. Wet Cured, Dry Cured or Fresh.. Fresh is uncured and I was told it has the taste and consistency of Pork Loin. I am also safe to assume that it will take a long time to cook/smoke like a Butt. Correct? I have about 4 hrs to cook this in and was going to smoke a chicken or two with it. Any suggestions or past experiences that you care to share?
 
I love to smoke a nice fresh ham. It comes out very moist and tasty. Throw a nice coating of brown sugar rub on there and do it right up. There's tons of recipes on the web , just pick one out that appeals to you. As you say , It's raw so it will take a while to smoke , like pork butt. You can certainly cook chicken at the same time , no problem.
What kind of smoker are you using?
 
Store-bought ready to cook or ready to eat are different than a fresh ham.
If you want a fresh one, flavor brine it then cook at a higher temp like 325'sh. If you are interested, I'll try to go back into the way-back machine (the old forum) and find Kevin's excellent brine and method for doing a fresh ham.

Tim
 
even if you just opt for a pre-cooked spiral sliced ham from Costco, you're in for a treat. If you have better options I'll try to check them out here. (good luck)
 
Matthew said:
I have a WSM 22.5" How long would you say it would take and what temp would you smoke at? WOOD?
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Matt , I would allow , say , 1.5 hours per pound of ham at 250-275....that's approximate. But I would allow 2 hrs per pound just to be safe. Obviously the time will vary according to your smoker temp. If you are cooking with a meat thermometer in the ham (and I'd say you should be ;)) , then you want to take the ham to maybe 175-180 for an IT.
Wood chunks are good. Maple or oak , apple if you have it....I'd just throw on a chunk at the beginning and then maybe another half way thru , but that depends on how smoky you want the ham to be.
You got a lot of good tips here , you can certainly brine the ham first if you want to , but I've taken fresh hams right from the pkg , rubbed them down and smoked them as is and they come out good. You can inject the ham too , for that matter. It's all according to how you want the ham to taste and how much work you want to put into it. Me I'm kind of lazy.
Good luck with it anyway , I hope it turns out good. Take pictures!
 
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