Anyone have a good recipe for Ham Loaf in the WSM??


 
D

Daryl H

New member
Some history:

 I've never been a fan of Ham Loaf, although it has been my Mother-in-Law's go-to dish for Easter for decades. We lost her suddenly in November to Pancreatic Cancer, and my wife's Dad has expressed a desire to continue the tradition for this year's Easter meal.

About the time I got my 18.5" WSM, I had a grocery store sample of a Ham Loaf the Meat Department had made that was wonderful! We bought one, baked it in the oven, and loved it.

Their recipe is a "secret," but they finally told me the ingredients (but not amounts) after I made several trips to buy another, but they had none "in stock."

It is made with ground ham, ground pork, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and liquid smoke. I figured the WSM was a better answer to the smoke taste, and guessed at a 1.5# Ham: 1# Pork ratio... but don't know where to go from there.

My Father-in-Law has loved the chicken, ribs, and meatloaf from my first exploits on the WSM, so I'd like to try this.

Do any of you WSM Pros have any advice???

Thanks in advance-
 
I do not know if this will suit your taste but here's an option. You might try it ahead of time and make alterations as you see fit.

3 tbls unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c brown sugar
8 oz can crushed pineapple

1 lb smoked ham, ground
1 lb fresh pork, ground
2 eggs
3/4 c soft bread crumbs
1/2 c milk
2 tbls ketchup
a couple pinches salt
a little white pepper

In a 9x5-inch loaf pan combine the melted butter and brown sugar. Drain the pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Spoon the pineapple over the butter and brown sugar, spreading evenly.

Combine the reserved juice and the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Press into the mixture into the pan. Bake at 350? for 50 minutes or to an internal temp of 160?.
Invert the loaf to serve.

You can cook in the WSM. Alternatively, you could form the loaf without the pan, cook, and make the sauce, if desired, in a small pot, cooking the pineapple with the sugar and butter, over medium heat, till nicely thickened and syrupy.

Hope this helps.
 
Hmm, I was surprised at both your recipes (but they look good!). I would have thought more ham to pork (at least 2 to 1) to ensure the ham flavor. Perhaps that's not an issue?

I've never tried it, but you guys have stirred the stomach juices.

Rich
 
Kevin- Your recipe sounds good. I am trying to replicate what we liked so much a month ago, so I'm going to attempt to make something from the ingredient list they gave me. If I flop, your "formula" will be the next try.

Rich- I did a web search for hours trying to find a recipe with the ingredient list I had. In looking at dozens of ham loaf recipes, it seemed that most had the 1.5:1 ratio in common... although a number were even 1:1. You may be right about more ham for more taste, but I am hoping the smoker will give me the taste I'm looking for with this ratio.

Our first try with the grocery store version was simply baked at 350 for an hour, with bacon strips laid across the top. It was wonderful!

I THINK I am going to fire up the WSM, mix 1.5 ham to 1.0 pork, add 1/4 to 1/2 C Pineapple juice and about that much brown sugar (whatever looks 'bout right!)... cool it in the fridge to firm, top it with a bacon weave and give it 90 minutes or so at 325-350.

May be the last one I ever do... or the start of a new family tradition! Thank you for your thoughts.

PS- I have to admit I got the ingredient list by a bit of subterfuge. With the last two store-made ham loaves in hand to buy, I went to the Butcher counter. I said "I notice there is no ingredient list on this. If I had anyone in my family with food allergies (I don't!), would there be anything in this recipe I should watch out for?" He said, "No. All that is in it is ham, ground pork, Pineapple juice, brown sugar, and Liquid Smoke... that's all."

From there, I'm hoping to improvise!! Off to the kitchen...
 
Try. It's hard to believe that their mix doesn't include one or more binders. Possible, but it might well mean upping the pork in the ratio, quite possibly to more than the ham. Without a binder one is relying on the sticky uncooked proteins of the pork. The ham, being cooked, won't have much to offr in this regard.
 
You may VERY well be right, Kevin.

Most the recipes I found had egg and crackers, milk and bread crumbs, tapioca, or SOMETHING as a binder. My "mix" is in the fridge, and seems to resemble what we had before.

I guess Edison "succeeded" in finding 1,000 things that would NOT work for a light bulb filament before he found one that did! I may succeed in finding this idea is no good, and they did not "tell all." Or...?!?!?!

It's about time to light the Smoker.
 
You may end up with enough of a bind from the raw pork. You'll easily be able to tell. Many types of ground meat mixtures use no binders other than what's afforded by the meats themselves. Works well. Bread, crackers, eggs, etc., are primarily their for flavor and to make the mix lighter (meat-only mixes can be rather dense, like gyro meat); secondarily, they bind non-meat ingredients, like vegs, that are often added to meat loaves.
 
Well, supper is over, and by the family reviews, the attempt was a winner!

It was windy enough that I had trouble getting the WSM up to temp for the first time in my experience. It ended up being a 2 hour cook at about 275 (wanted 325-350) to get the meat above 165 degrees, but the bacon still crisped up nicely. I used two tennis-ball sized chunks of apple wood, and smoke ring was a WIDE one.

I "ground" the ham in a food processor, so it was coarser in texture than the ground pork. Maybe that enhanced the smoke penetration. Regardless, the loaf held up beautifully without additional binder, and had a very pleasing density and texture. There will be three of the smoked ham loaves featured at this Sunday's Easter dinner.

Thanks for your help in thinking it all through. Feel free to try it if you are ever wanting something different...
 
Bravo!

Smoke doesn't really 'penetrate' - the smokering is a chemical reaction, not an indication of smoke penetration. Just FYI. No matter. So glad it worked out well. Plot it out, write it out, then post in the Pork Recipes section. Others I'm sure will be interested in trying it.

And take a pic!
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I'm glad to hear that worked out so well, Daryl. May your family tradition carry on -- maybe you will add another generation?

I've enjoyed this thread and definitely have a ham loaf on the short list. It got put off a bit (rats!) when my wife suggested we go to our local brewery with the dogs for Yappy Hour.
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A good time was had by all...

Rich
 
A final report:

We had the leftovers of the Ham Loaf tonight, and the accolades were strong once again!

Since the meatloaf was not coated with any sauce for smoking, I made up a little side sauce from the recipe Chris presents in his meatloaf section on this site's Cooking Tips:

Mom G's Meatloaf Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
6 Tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Mix ingredients thoroughly. To avoid clumping of the dry mustard, sift it into the ketchup and combine before stirring in the remaining ingredients.

Most of the family just preferred the smoked Ham Loaf "plain", but others thought this was a good complimentary taste.

My wife has requested three of these for Easter dinner!

Until further tweaking, the recipe will be:
1.5# Ground (trimmed) Ham
1.0# Ground Pork
1/2 C Pineapple Juice
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1 TBS Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp Ground Pepper

Bacon Weave Cap

Smoke with modest amount of wood (I used two tennis-ball sized chunks) to 165 internal temp. Tent and rest for 10 minutes before slicing.



Thanks for your help on this project. At guess at this point, I'm willing to call it a success!
 
Well, guys, yesterday (along with other meats) I smoked a ham loaf based on merging your two recipes (Daryl's ratio, Kevin's ingredients except for mustard instead of ketchup). I came out REALLY well and will become a tradition for us also.

What I did NOT add was the pineapple sauce (just a 1/2 cup of chopped pineapple) and I'm glad I did it that way. The loaf is VERY good, but my wife and I would prefer not having the pineapple flavor as a routine (just our personal opinion).
The next time I'll do more of a "hash" type recipe with grilled diced potatoes (about 1/2 to 1 cup) and chopped onions and red or yellow pepper (about 1/2 cup each).

But the essentials are the loaf, not the add-ins, and I really appreciate your recipes.

Rich
 
Rich,

I'm glad you came up with a winning twist on this effort. Sounds like you are adding another possibility to your "smoking stable" of recipes.

I am about to put three loaves on the smoker for tomorrow's Easter lunch. If we were eating here, I'd let them cook during church services, but since the meal is away, we plan to get them ready and warm in the oven there.

One thought, if anyone is looking in over our shoulders on all this...

I'm not a big fan of pineapple flavor, either (except on the grill with kabobs!), but the 1/2 cup of pineapple juice was very subtle, and did not make the ham loaf taste like pineapple to my taste buds. I figured it was the mild acidic nature I was after in using it. Anyway, it was good (to our family).

I thought about doing two "normal" loaves, and one that was s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y spicier with a bit more pepper, a touch of garlic, and a pinch red pepper flakes, but that is going to wait for another time.

Most of the family test audience shy away from spicy foods, so tomorrow is Plain Jane (with bacon)! I hope they will like it.

It's time to get smokin'!
 
Thanks, Daryl. Yeah, this will be a staple. And I appreciate the additional comment about pineapple juice -- I'll definitely try that as it fits in with the other ideas.

You and I also think alike on the additional "spice". I was thinking that a Caribbean take might work well -- a jerk sauce or even just playing some with that "Caribbean spice kit" that Levi Roots touts ( http://www.cookingchanneltv.co...made-easy/index.html ).

Rich
 
Spices and aromatics vary in Caribbean cooking - depends on where you are. Typical additions (some of which would be good here): thyme, allspice, nutmeg or mace, ginger, hot peppers, garlic, shallot, culantro, vanilla...
 
Rich and Kevin,

I like the way you guys think, and your comments are making me hungry. Some combination of those spices may be just the thing.

Three loaves are heating up 10 miles away as we "speak". I told them to try 275 for 90 minutes. I hope that is enought to bring refrigerated meat (foiled) back up to temp w/out drying it out. They looked SO good just off the smoker, but that just didn't fit for today. Seems like this has been one long experiment!

I have pics I will try to post tonight.

If it all works, I will try it up as a recipe for the Pork section. I'm going to rename it "Smoked Pork Meatloaf". I'm already tired of people asking what Ham Loaf is!
 
Go on you tube and watch the video of bbq bologna.. It is by bbw web.com or something. thats how I do it. Basicly you score a diamond pattern in the ham loaf and slather on yellow mustard or stone ground mustard if you wish. Then lots of bbq rub on 3 sides and the ends. then I like to apply a little more mustard and then some brown sugar on top. put right on the rack not in a pan and let it smoke away! It is already " pre cooked" like bologny so you just have to get it heated thru and nice n crusty how ya like it on the out side..
 
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