Whole Fresh Ham


 
J

Jeff (TN)

New member
I thought I would try to smoke a ham tomorrow for Christmas and found a 20 lb. Smithfield Whole Fresh Ham (all natural).

Not doing my research before, I find now I don't have a cured ham. How would anyone recommend I smoke this? The Smithfield website says 22-28 minutes per pound at 325 degrees.

Do I toss any rub on it as I would a pork shoulder or try a glaze? I'm wide open to suggestions. Thanks!
 
I'm no expert, as I've only done one fresh ham. It was earlier today, though, so I just did a bunch of research around here.

What I ended up doing was a 3-day flavor brine (salt and molasses), then pulled it out of the brine, rubbed it with just a little ground mustard, ground cloves, and paprika. Then I 'grill-smoked' it on the Weber kettle at 325 with apple wood for smoke until it got to 145-150 internal temp. It took me about 4 hours for my 20lb ham. I skinned it and cut off most of the fat before I brined it. And I actually hog-tied the whole ham to the rotisserie and cooked it that way.

It came out pretty great, though maybe a bit salty. So if there was any way for you to delay your cook a day or two, I would recommend brining. Make sure you take about 4 cups of the brine and inject it near the bone before you start the brine, though. I used Alton Brown's brine for pork shoulder, though I needed four batches of it to cover all of that ham!

If you can't wait, then I have learned that lots of people season fresh ham and cook it as you note. It seems to me that it would be tough to get enough salt to penetrate all the way to the bone, however.

If you want to do a glaze, it seem that conventional wisdom is to wait until about 30 minutes before the ham is finished, then apply a glaze at that point. That's what I did with some brown sugar/pineapple juice/ yellow mustard, and it turned out great.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for your reply. Good stuff.

I'll do a search for that brine recipe. I actually could brine tomorrow and smoke on Sunday since it took only four hours. I would have thought it would take closer to seven based on the instructions attached to the ham. I'll go to 140-150 regardless.
 
We ate the ham for dinner since I wrote, and decided that it is a bit too salty. So decreasing the salt and/or time in the brine would be a good idea.

Here's that brine recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pulled-pork-recipe/index.html

Note that he measures salt by *weight*, since the size of the salt grains is so different between, say, table salt and kosher salt. Pickling salt is very fine, and so it dissolves in the brine without needing to be heated up, saving you a step or tow (or three).
 
Also, I wanted to give a ham high-five to Kevin Kruger, whose named popped up a lot on many ham threads I was searching earlier this week. That guy is a wealth of information, and he's really kind about dispensing it! He mentioned in several places his technique for curing ham (7-10 days in a special brine), but said 'grill-smoking' paired with flavor-brining is his favorite method. i did what he said, and was very happy with the result.

Do a search for 'Fresh ham' and 'K Kruger' and you will be happy you did. Thanks, Kevin!
 
I did one last yr for Turkey day.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/r-QNKnBV0c-YSCo8PdZdop78bNhrWj_MvcmALSAThjU?feat=directlink

IIRC that was about 24lbs. Used a new utility knife to score the rind and rubbed with a spicy rub/paste. I also used Kevin's flavor brine, but only for a few days.
That was on the OTG over Hickory&Sugar Maple at about 350 for 6hrs or so.
The glaze was a Citrus rum which I like.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/baked-fresh-ham-with-citrus-rum-glaze-recipe/index.html

Tim
 
Last edited:
Mike Stavlund said:
Also, I wanted to give a ham high-five to Kevin Kruger, whose named popped up a lot on many ham threads I was searching earlier this week. That guy is a wealth of information, and he's really kind about dispensing it! He mentioned in several places his technique for curing ham (7-10 days in a special brine), but said 'grill-smoking' paired with flavor-brining is his favorite method. i did what he said, and was very happy with the result.

Do a search for 'Fresh ham' and 'K Kruger' and you will be happy you did. Thanks, Kevin!
Click to expand...

You're welcome!
 
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