Attempting My First Ham.... HELP!

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

seaneboy

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 17, 2013
8
10
Ok, so I have read up on Pops' ham techniques, and what not.. But, I am still unsure what I am capable of today.. I brined the ham in Tenderquick for about a week.  I'd say it's something in the 10-15lb range.  I pumped it full of a variation of Pops brine - only differences is I did not add salt because I used TenderQuick.  I put some pickling spice in there, and worcestershire as well as some other stuff. 

 We're hoping to eat in about 6 hours, obviously I know this is not enough time to smoke.  I left the meat to dry overnight in the fridge, after washing it off.  I have hickory wood soaked and ready, and I use a Brinkmann electric smoker.  My question is this... Should I throw it on the smoker now, and finish in the oven? Or, is this something I should save until tomorrow and smoke in its entireity?  Or maybe even just pop on the smoker until it is done tonight?  I've read something like 45 minutes to a pound, and was thinking of just making that 55 minutes just in case.  That would put me anywhere from 7-10 hours...

Thoughts?  I'm kind of nervous, as this is my first ham - thankfully it is really just a side project of mine, and not 'the Christmas meal', so I can mess it up without leaving people hungry.  I planned it that way, so it could be a relatively stress free experiment... But, it's Christmas, and I want to smoke something, and ideally eat it!

I think I'm just going to fire up the smoker and take a crack at it..
 
Yeah, that's what I was afraid of... But, I did read that Tenderquick can be used as a brine... Other issue is that I did not boil the water/let sit prior to mixing... So, the next question is.. Should I just throw this thing out?  I guess it's worth taking a shot at, right?
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky