smoking a ham - almost impossible to find right thing?


 
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Phillip Moore

TVWBB Member
I'm trying to get everything together to smoke a ham for the holidays. I'm trying to replicate this ham my family gets from Grayson's BBQ in Clarence, LA, which is basically a heavily smoked ham, with no glaze. It is quite delicious.

From reading the cooking topics on tvwb site on ham, it looks like what I want is a cured ready to cook ham, that isn't already smoked. Pretty much all I can find is either a fresh ham (not cured) or a cured ham with apple wood, or hickory smoking already.

I called Grayson's and explained the homage I am attempting and he told me they start with a cured ham and smoke it with hickory and red oak. I just don't think I'm going to get something as awesome if I start from an already cooked and smoked ham.

Am I barking up the wrong tree here? When people smoke a ham themselves, are they starting with something already cooked/smoked already?

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Not cooked, but ready-to-cook. These hams are already smoked but they're not so smoked that they can't take more wood. Get one of those.

(For a fresh ham you'd have to cure it first, then smoke it. That's quite possible to do too.)
 
I'd definatley urge you to cure a fresh ham. What Kevin put together here is really really really good. I've done it four or five times now with minor flavor variations and it is always a hit and everyone agrees it is better than anything you can buy. Much cheaper out my way as well!

Definately worth the extra work!

Clark
 
Phillip-
I had a similar problem for Thanksgiving. My brother-in-law purchased a whole hog this year and it was cured but not cooked. Although everyone was telling me this was impossible, I beg to differ! Now, most people that cure a ham will cook it. Therefore, most of the time you can only get a country ham (not cured/cooked) or a pre-cooked ham. I posted my results on another bbq blog and will get you pictures if you'd like. Here is that response...

"I wanted to follow up regarding the ham question that I posted earlier. Although most people thought that this was a cured & cooked ham (like you would buy in a grocery store), this was in fact cured but never cooked. You usually cannot find these but since it was purchased as a whole hog, that's what I got!

I injected it with an apple juice & pineapple juice mixture and rubbed with a sweet rub. Smoked for about 10-11 hours at 250. Once the internal temp hit 225, I basted with a mixture of brown sugar, pineapple juice, apple juice, cracked pepper, cayenne pepper and whatever else that I can't remember now! I continued to baste every 1/2 hour. Didn't add any salt as ham tends to have enough of that already! When it hit 135-140 I packed on some brown sugar and then wrapped in foil. I cooked & carved Saturday and then served on Sunday. Just re-heated in the oven and basted every 30-minutes. Everyone LOVED it! I was very happy for my first ham, would probably do some things differently next time but all in all it was great. here are some pics for your viewing pleasure... "
 
Sorry typo in the rist one. Change the 2nd sentance in the 2nd quoted paragraph to "once the internal temp him 125". Just a little bit different!!!
 
i usually try to get a ready to cook cured ham. problem is that they are hard to find. seems all they want to sell is those spiral cut things. i had to go to three stores before i found one in the fourth store. crazy.
 
If you have access to a fresh ham, then there is no reason not to cure it yourself. It's super and the results are great.

here's a link to my thread on the giant ham I cured and smoked:

hamonster
 
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