# Fresh Ham Smoke w/QView



## devolutionist (Dec 23, 2007)

Well I took up the challenge of doing a Christmas ham in the smoker.  However, I had kinda backed down a bit and decided that I was going to do a bone-in, cured ready-to-cook ham (not ready to eat).   However, my wife went to Publix this am (grocery store) and brought back a 17 lb fresh ham.  Fresh hams aren't cured and are basically just the rear leg of the pig that's just been lopped off and trimmed up a little.

SO...  Into the fire we jump.  Had to get going on it because I figured this guy was going to take a LONG time in the smoker.  Decided to do things simple, so I just trimmed it up  a little, taking off a bit of the skin (keeping it for making cracklin's of course) and a little bit of fat.  No rubs - just a haze of yellow mustard rubbed on it.  I'll be spraying it with pineapple juice about every hour.  For wood I'm using cherry.  Got kinda mad because I couldn't find the handheld part of my wireless thermometer (dang kids) so I'm just using a regular meat thermometer with it.   Put it in at 11AM EST...

Here's some pics of what we have so far:







Here's the kind of ham I'm using.  Not the cheapest cut in the world, but we didn't really shop it around either.






Here's a shot of the ham right out of the bag.  My wife balked at the skin, so off it goes.  Shouldn't make a huge difference without it.






Here's the ham after I took the extra skin off as well as some extra fat.






Fat is scored and it's ready to go... Just a little yellow mustard went on it.






In it goes at 225-235 degrees with the cherry wood pumping out a good bit of TBS comign out of the firebox.

More pics to follow as this little project progresses...


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## pigcicles (Dec 23, 2007)

Awesome start Devo. Keep the pics and reports coming. Looks really good so far.


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## big-fokker (Dec 23, 2007)

Looking great so far...I have to ask though, why so little mustard? I put a 12# brisket in at around 11:30 this morning, but I've really been itching to do a whole ham like you've got. Can't wait to see your progress!


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## devolutionist (Dec 23, 2007)

Here's a shot of it at the 2 hour mark.  Just sprayed it with pineapple juice for the first time too.  Temp hasn't budged, but I didn't really expect it to.







Big-Fokker - Not using much of anything since this is my first one.  Trying to keep this one simple so I'll have something to tweak the next time.  I'm a little uptight about this one since it's my first one, and I've read that you can throw one in with nothing on it and it'll turn out great... so I'm doing this one as a "bare bones" smoke.

More to come this afternoon...


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## big-fokker (Dec 23, 2007)

ahhh, I see...this is the "test" smoke. It looks great! BTW, we shopped Publix almost exclusively. Ours was the one off Causeway/Lumsden in Brandon...damn I miss the weather


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## ron50 (Dec 23, 2007)

Looking good, that cherry wood is going to give it some real nice color.


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## devolutionist (Dec 23, 2007)

Quick update - currently nine hours into it, temp is around 145.






Here's a shot of it at the six hour mark earlier this afternoon






...and here's where we're at right now.  Just turned it too, which I've never done on any of the pulled pork butts I've done in the past, but I figured that if it's going to be on this long I probably should, especially since I started it fat cap up.  Now that the cap is down, I expect a lot of it to melt away.

I'm guessing that it'll be done around 2 or 3am... time for another beer!


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## irwinwd (Dec 24, 2007)

if it tastes 1/2 as good as it looks it will be a great first try.


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## smokey bryan (Dec 24, 2007)

that looks good i wished i could smell it


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## devolutionist (Dec 24, 2007)

One small glitch... the propane tank I was using went dry some time around 9pm and I switched it out around 10.  Internal temp was still 145 and the boxes were still pretty warm - so no harm, no foul.  Hopefully...  Might have to push my removal time back a bit.  We'll see...

smokey bryan - yeah it's smelling *great*...  if I could bottle that smell up I'd sell it as cologne and make a million dollars.


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## devolutionist (Dec 24, 2007)

Wrapped things up around 3:30 last night with internal temp at around 165-170ish.






This is the last pic in the smoker right before taking it out, which was right at the 16.5 hour mark.






Right after taking it off - meat felt very loose, almost like a butt would after taking it off at 200.  Hope that old meat thermometer was accurate...






Another pic of the final product before wrapping in foil and putting it in the cooler until morning.

After I took it out, I put it in the foil pan, covered with foil, and then put it in my 5-day cooler with some towels.

When I got up this morning (at 10am!) I went out and checked it, and about a half cup of juices were in the pan.  It was still pretty hot and the meat was really "wiggly" around the bone, so I decided to let it cool off in the fridge before trying to actually carve it.  I tried a bit of it, and it definitely was good, but I was suprised to see how much it DIDN'T taste like a classic ham.  Tastes more like pulled pork that ain't pulled - which really it is, and I should've expected that.  Amazing how much different curing makes it taste.

I'll post some more after I carve it up...


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## smokeys my pet (Dec 24, 2007)

Yes if it is not cured basically it is a GIANT pork chop. Looks darn good!!!!!!!!!


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## msmith (Dec 24, 2007)

Looking very awesome.


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## cowgirl (Dec 24, 2007)

Mmmm, that looks great!


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## big-fokker (Dec 25, 2007)

Man I'm hungry now...that really does look good!


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## richtee (Dec 25, 2007)

Curing IS what makes it ham... I like "hammy ribs" once in a while... people freak when they bite into "ham on a stick"  heh!


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## glued2it (Dec 25, 2007)

Ham on a stick? hmmm. Might have to try that.

I made a 22lb porkchop once. It was good though.

That fresh ham's lookin good there!


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## devolutionist (Jan 1, 2008)

Almost forgot to post the final pic of the cut ham - wife is making split pea soup with the leftover bones & scraps today!







Oh, I also realized that I have no idea how to carve a ham.  Anyone got any pointers there for next time?


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## smokeys my pet (Jan 1, 2008)

Looks like she turned out wonderful CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!


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## bustedluckbarbq (Jan 1, 2008)

Wow - that looks GREAT!!!


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## raven1911 (Jan 2, 2008)

Devolutionist,

Did you leave that thermometer in the ham while cooking?  I have one just like that but wondered if I could leave it in the smoker while cooking or have to take it out?  Man, that ham looks good.  Did you do anything to it before putting it in the smoker besides taking the majority of the skin off and rubbing it with mustard?  Any rub on it or injected with anything??

I have a wild boar butt that I need to cook and was wondering if I could cook it the same way you did?  How did you figure your cooking time?  Did you keep it at 225-250 the whole time?  Sorry for all the questions but I am new to smoking.

Thanks!


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## big-fokker (Jan 2, 2008)

Raven,
Those therms like you saw in Devolutionists' pics are made to be left in for the whole time. You can also find remote therms at Wal-Mart or Target pretty inexpensively as well. I bought a Taylor digital from Target for about $12 on sale last season. Here a link to the Taylor http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...t_adv_XSG10001
You pretty much stick the probe in the meat, put the meat in the smoker and when you hit your desired temp it'll beep.
DeeJayDebi has a time and temp chart on her site that will give you an idea of what to do. 
Before I got settled in here, I used to try and figure cooking times by temp/lbs/time, now thanks to the wise folks here, I do it by temperature and I haven't missed the mark since


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## devolutionist (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah, I left it in the whole time.  Had to take it out once thought because the face of it was getting pretty smoked up from the pineapple juice I was spraying on it.  BTW, the only reason I was using that one was because the probes on all my other digital ones are shot.

Since this was my first one, I didn't really put much of anything on it - kind of wanted a "baseline" ham so I'd have a better understanding of where I wanted to go with it next time.  All I really did was put a really light coat of yellow mustard on it, and then sprayed it with pineapple juice every 1 or 2 hours.  Next time I'll doctor it up a bit more 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Cooking time was based on 1.5 hours per pound, but it it didn't really take as long as that.  Mine was 17 lbs and was done in about 16-17 hours, with the heat being kept between 225 & 240.  Took the internal temp up to about 165-170.  Like Big-Fokker says, cooking time is just a guideline to help you schedule the rest of your meal around what's being smoked - the bottom line of what really matters is the internal temp you're aiming for.

That wild boar of yours would be AWESOME cooked in a smoker, but since it'll have a lot less fat than a commercial pig, you'll want to really stay on top of it to make sure it doesn't dry out - I've never done wild game in mine though so I can't help you much with specifics on how to keep it moist.


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## foozer (Jan 2, 2008)

If you were to take this ham up to an internal temperature of 200-205 would you be able to pull it like a pork butt


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## devolutionist (Jan 2, 2008)

you certainly would!  

the only difference between this cut and a boston butt is that the butt is from the front quarter (and has a picnic attached) and this is from the rear quarter.

bear in mind that this tasted like a sliced boston butt since it's fresh and not cured.  didn't taste like a traditional ham at all...  like Richtee said earlier, curing it is what makes it a ham.  otherwise it's just sliced pork.


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## pigcicles (Jan 2, 2008)

I can't believe you said "otherwise it's just sliced pork". It's PIG man. Pure heaven ... meat with it's own extra large stick. Wayyy better than any ol' chicken leg. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	









Glad that "just sliced pork" turned out good for you Devo. Keep up the good work. Remember - Pork Fat Rules


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## walking dude (Jan 2, 2008)

i know this to be a stupid question.........and i know others willl tell me..........what are you using as a smoker....i know is a gasser.........

gosm?


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## pigcicles (Jan 2, 2008)

His sig line and pics show the BBQ Grillware Dude

Edit: Pics don't show the name.. sorry thought they did


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## walking dude (Jan 2, 2008)

crap pigs......my bad........didn't read the sig line.........thats a new one on me.......but its a good looking smoker


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## devolutionist (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry Pigs, saying it's "just" pork should definitely get me a slap on the wrist.  That's just outright heresy. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Mr Walking Dude - It's a BBQ Grillware vertical smoker from Lowe's.  Here's a pic of what they look like:







...and here's a thread where a couple of us were talking about the pro's and con's of them.  Overall I still like it a lot.  Only thing I wanted to do but couldn't because of size was a packer cut brisket, but doing just the flat worked out pretty dang good.


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## propaul3681 (Jan 19, 2013)

I am following the exact same process.  However it is late and I am tired. At 11 pm I put her in my reg oven at 350.  The fresh ham's inside temp was only 131.  up to 145 now..... at 160 she goes in the cooler.  Tomorrow is another day.  I am sure the oven detracts some but the thing was in the smoker for 11 hrs.  I think it will be good. Thanks for sharing!


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