Smoking ham ahead of time????????

[A Kokkinos]

Hi to all. I do hope someone can help me out here since I need to plan for a big party (40+ persons) on Sunday noon. So, I have a 7-pound ham curing in the fridge for the past 8 days (part injection, part dry rub including Cure #1). In order to free up the smoker (since the smoking of the ham will take about 4 hours), I planned to smoke it the day before and glaze it in the oven the day of the party. I planned to simply smoke it at 250 degrees F to an internal temp of 140 degrees F (for as long as it takes) cool it and refrigerate it until the party day. Then, bring it to room temp, and roast it at 350 degrees F and glaze it until it reaches 160 degrees F. My wife worries that this process will probably dry out the ham. Any ideas? Recommendations? Can I do this and still get a moist ham?

Thanks,

Andreas

 

[Frank H]

I am not a chef so anyone who is can feel free to correct me , but I would go the other way 'round. Cook it all the way the first day and just heat it up the second day. I seem to recall hearing that you dry food out if you reheat it to a higher temp than it was originally cooked to.
But be that as it may , I have smoked ham the day before and reheated it the next day in the slow cooker and it has stayed nice and moist. I'm sure you can do it in the oven as well. Good luck with your party.

 

[timothy]

I think you will be just fine. It's like buying a "ready to cook" ham, vs a "ready to eat " ham
Both come out moist when I do them.

Tim