Fresh Ham - Cured, cold smoked & baked?

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chuckwagon44256

Newbie
Original poster
Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum but have been a newsletter subscriber for quite a while. I have done a fair amount of standard hot smoking but have just gotten into cold smoking. I've got a offset firebox from which I pipe the smoke (8 ft.distance) to my Brinkman vertical smoker. It seems to work very well. I have cold smoked fish, cheese, sausage & turkey dstix/thighs so far. The results have been good but now I want to step it up and do something really impressive for Christmas Eve dinner.

I have ordered a whole fresh ham (bone-in obviously) from a local butcher which I pick up today. It is 16lbs and I have asked to have it cut in half. I will freeze the less visually pleasing of the two halves. The good half I plan on brining for 4 days in solution of salt, water, apple juice, ginger, clove, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon & garlic (with insta-cure #1.) The basic recipe is from Michael Rhulman's (sp?) book; "Charcuterie." After the 4 day brine I will rinse and let stand overnight before starting to smoke. I plan on cold smoking the ham with apple, cherry and hickory for a total of 9-12 hours (3-4 separate smokes of 3-4 hours each.) at less than 80dF. I will wrap in plastic and let rest in the fridge overnight between smokes.

On Christmas Eve I plan on baking the ham at 350dF until the internal temp reaches 150dF. I figure 20-30 mins per pound, so 3-1/2 to 4 hours. I'll score the skin with a 1"-2" diamond pattern before starting to bake. I want to glaze with something sweet to compliment the smokey flavor.

So, here are my questions or topics for discussion: 1. Does all the above sound correct/safe/tasty?  2. What would you recommend for a glaze?

Thanks a lot.
 
Howdy!

 I will let someone w/ more experience answer the part about curing . The  glaze part i can help with.

 I like to melt 1 stick of butter add  1 cup dark brown sugar add 1 cinnamon stick and 6 whole cloves. add 1/2 can of cola ,dr pepper or root beer.(your favorite)  Bring to a low boil while stirring over med heat. simmer for 5 min while stirring. Remove cinnamon stick and cloves and pour aver the ham at least 3/4 way thru the smoke. Ham should be in a pan before you glaze so that you can catch any run off.
 
I'm no expert on curing, but it seems to me that unless you inject the ham with the brine, 4 days is not long enough for the cure to reach the middle of the ham. This is a good one for Pops to answer.
 
Eman - Thanks for the recipe. That sounds like a perfect glaze to accentuate the flavors in the brine. I'll give it a try.

SmokinAl - Thanks for the input. I have an injector and can easily do that. I had read that the brine should cure about 2lbs of meat a day but I certainly see your point about the thickness of the meat and getting full penetration.

Pops?
 
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/89979/from-hog-leg-to-easter-ham

And BTW

Welcome..

This site has tons of info.

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Ask questions and use the handy dandy search tool for specific interests!!

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Craig

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/about-jeffs-5-day-ecourse
 
      Make bacon the easy way!!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/109368/more-easy-made-bacon-with-q-view#post_666451

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/82034/how-to-post-qview-to-smf
 
icon_cool.gif


Now Craig has sent you down the right road for your ham so enjoy and don't forget the Q-View.
 
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