Pete Z
TVWBB Super Fan
Act 1: Aquiring the ham...
I went by Publix on Saturday morning and they had a fresh ham. I did not buy it then because I needed to check on our anticipated menus for the week. I went back in the afternoon and it was gone. The meat man (he had a hairnet) said that they never had such a thing and implied that I was imagining things - he directed me to the cured hams. What I want, I said, is similiar to this picnic (slap the picnic sitting in the case), but it is the back leg instead of the front. OK, well, check back tomorrow... Anyway, I bought an 18 pounder at Bi-Lo instead.
Act 2: Prepare the ham.
I left the skin and fat on the ham and carved a Christmas design on it (see picture). I brined the ham for 3 days using a recipe from an old Kevin Kruger post: mix of 3 qts water, 3 cups apple juice, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup kosher salt, a few dozen whole cloves, and 1-2 tsps of freshly grated nutmeg.
Rub was from the same Kruger post: 1/2 cup Tabasco, 2 Tblsp minced fresh garlic (I substituted granulated because I didn't realize that we were out of fresh), 2 Tbls each of cumin and coriander, 2 teaspoons each of allspice and ginger, and 1 1/2 Tbls each of kosher salt, freshly ground white pepper, and brown sugar.
I then cooked at 350 for around 6 hours until the internal was around 155-160. My thermometer is slow and I don't usually let it stabilize all the way. Wood was pecan.
Act 3: Eat the ham.
I enjoyed the rub, but my family found it to be hotter than their normal tolerance. The ham was delicious. A couple of things that I would do differently:
1) get rid of the skin and fat before cooking. I snacked on some delicious skin w/ fat, but I couldn't interest very many others to share in my gluttony. The best pieces of meat, IMO, were the pieces that had rub applied directly on the meat.
2) I will use hickory next time. Somehow I ran out of hickory and had a bunch of pecan. Not that there is a huge difference, I know.
Here are some
]pictures
I went by Publix on Saturday morning and they had a fresh ham. I did not buy it then because I needed to check on our anticipated menus for the week. I went back in the afternoon and it was gone. The meat man (he had a hairnet) said that they never had such a thing and implied that I was imagining things - he directed me to the cured hams. What I want, I said, is similiar to this picnic (slap the picnic sitting in the case), but it is the back leg instead of the front. OK, well, check back tomorrow... Anyway, I bought an 18 pounder at Bi-Lo instead.
Act 2: Prepare the ham.
I left the skin and fat on the ham and carved a Christmas design on it (see picture). I brined the ham for 3 days using a recipe from an old Kevin Kruger post: mix of 3 qts water, 3 cups apple juice, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup kosher salt, a few dozen whole cloves, and 1-2 tsps of freshly grated nutmeg.
Rub was from the same Kruger post: 1/2 cup Tabasco, 2 Tblsp minced fresh garlic (I substituted granulated because I didn't realize that we were out of fresh), 2 Tbls each of cumin and coriander, 2 teaspoons each of allspice and ginger, and 1 1/2 Tbls each of kosher salt, freshly ground white pepper, and brown sugar.
I then cooked at 350 for around 6 hours until the internal was around 155-160. My thermometer is slow and I don't usually let it stabilize all the way. Wood was pecan.
Act 3: Eat the ham.
I enjoyed the rub, but my family found it to be hotter than their normal tolerance. The ham was delicious. A couple of things that I would do differently:
1) get rid of the skin and fat before cooking. I snacked on some delicious skin w/ fat, but I couldn't interest very many others to share in my gluttony. The best pieces of meat, IMO, were the pieces that had rub applied directly on the meat.
2) I will use hickory next time. Somehow I ran out of hickory and had a bunch of pecan. Not that there is a huge difference, I know.
Here are some
]pictures
