# How to "cook" a fresh ham in a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker



## yumyumeatumup (Dec 18, 2010)

I'm fairly new to this fourm and have been smoking various things with good success in my MES for more than a year..   A freind of mine wants to purchase a fresh ham and asked me to cook it in my smoker (without smoke).    Any tips on what to do would be appreaciated ie.  brine solution and how long,  temp to cook ham at and finished temp and any guess on hours per pound.

I do have a Maverick with meat probe.  Thanks.

Gary


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## pineywoods (Dec 18, 2010)

Is this a cured ham? Also why wouldn't you add smoke flavor??????


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## Bearcarver (Dec 18, 2010)

yumyumeatumup said:


> I'm fairly new to this fourm and have been smoking various things with good success in my MES for more than a year..   A freind of mine wants to purchase a fresh ham and asked me to cook it in my smoker (without smoke).    Any tips on what to do would be appreaciated ie.  brine solution and how long,  temp to cook ham at and finished temp and any guess on hours per pound.
> 
> I do have a Maverick with meat probe.  Thanks.
> 
> Gary


As far as I know the only way to cook a "fresh ham" in an MES would be like you would cook a pork butt. You would have to do it at temps of 225˚ or higher, and get it through the danger zone (40˚ to 140˚) in less than 4 hours if you probe it or inject it before you start.

It would not taste like Ham if it is fresh (raw). It would be cooked pork, as in pulled pork without the smoke flavor.

Bear


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## yumyumeatumup (Dec 18, 2010)

Pineywoods said:


> Is this a cured ham? Also why wouldn't you add smoke flavor??????


No, the ham would be fresh cut from a local butcher.  We are in an RV park with ovens that cannot handle a large item like a ham.  He also does not want the smoked infusion----I would but it's his ham.


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## pineywoods (Dec 18, 2010)

As Bear said if it's not cured you are gonna have cooked pork it will not taste like ham


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## bikes blues bbq (Dec 22, 2010)

As said above, without curing it won't taste like the traditional ham.  Without some healthy injecting/marinading, especially without smoke, I would think you would get some pretty bland tasting pork, much like cooking in the oven with no prep.


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## yumyumeatumup (Dec 23, 2010)

Bikes Blues BBQ said:


> As said above, without curing it won't taste like the traditional ham.  Without some healthy injecting/marinading, especially without smoke, I would think you would get some pretty bland tasting pork, much like cooking in the oven with no prep.


Yes both he and I are aware of taste-it will be like a tradional pork roast.  That is not necesarily a bad thing once in awhile .  I grew up with my Mom cooking this in the oven.  My freind is a hog and corn farmer from Nebraska so he knows his pork.     I have actually talked him into doing something else.  Back in Ohio where I was raised we had a thing called "Cottage Hams"  My Dad owned his own butcher shop and he made them for customers.   Basically you take a pork butt, cut it in thirds or fourths going with the grain.  You brine it for two days in salt and sugar brine.  You smoke it.  You boil it. then you cool it and it is sliced for sandwich meat.  Kind of a regional thing.  I'm hungry


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## venture (Dec 26, 2010)

I suspect this "fresh ham" may actually be a country ham which has been cured but not cooked?


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## pignit (Dec 26, 2010)

This is one of those deals where terminology gets confusing. In a perfect world... ham is actually a cured hind quarter. A fresh hindquarter that isn't cured would be referred to as a green hind quarter. Any pork call green is actually uncured in any way. The term ham used correctly would refer to a cured hind quarter. Now.... we all know that a picnic ham is from the front shoulder which is actually incorrect terminology if you go by the true definition of ham. Kinda confusing because a lot of these terms are used interchangably and without thought as to correctness. So... lots of ways to be confused when talkin pig. Then you get into the difference from a regular cured ham and a country ham. An uncured hind quarter would be cooked just like you would cook a ham. 160 to 180 for slicing... 195 to 200 for pulling.


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## yumyumeatumup (Dec 27, 2010)

Venture said:


> I suspect this "fresh ham" may actually be a country ham which has been cured but not cooked?




No, the ham (hind quarter) is raw before being cooked/roasted.


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## yumyumeatumup (Dec 27, 2010)

PignIt said:


> This is one of those deals where terminology gets confusing. In a perfect world... ham is actually a cured hind quarter. A fresh hindquarter that isn't cured would be referred to as a green hind quarter. Any pork call green is actually uncured in any way. The term ham used correctly would refer to a cured hind quarter. Now.... we all know that a picnic ham is from the front shoulder which is actually incorrect terminology if you go by the true definition of ham. Kinda confusing because a lot of these terms are used interchangably and without thought as to correctness. So... lots of ways to be confused when talkin pig. Then you get into the difference from a regular cured ham and a country ham. An uncured hind quarter would be cooked just like you would cook a ham. 160 to 180 for slicing... 195 to 200 for pulling.


Never heard the "green hind" term but you are so right about confusing terminology and it is certainly not limited to a pig.   After working for several years in my dad's butcher shop back in Cleveland I moved out to the Pacific N.W.   They have a whole new vocabulary of meat cuts on the West Coast..
 




Venture said:


> I suspect this "fresh ham" may actually be a country ham which has been cured but not cooked?


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## venture (Dec 27, 2010)

The USDA makes it even more confusing when they allow calling a fresh leg a fresh ham:

*Definition*
Hams may be fresh, cured, or cured-and-smoked. Ham is the cured leg of pork. Fresh ham is an uncured leg of pork. Fresh ham will bear the term "fresh" as part of the product name and is an indication that the product is not cured.

It seems that "ham" is cured, but the fresh leg can be called a "fresh ham".  Trow in green and county ham to cloud things a bit. That is bound to lead to confusion.  Me thinks we have some ancient language to blame for this.  LOL


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## Bearcarver (Dec 27, 2010)

Venture said:


> The USDA makes it even more confusing when they allow calling a fresh leg a fresh ham:
> 
> *Definition*
> Hams may be fresh, cured, or cured-and-smoked. Ham is the cured leg of pork. Fresh ham is an uncured leg of pork. Fresh ham will bear the term "fresh" as part of the product name and is an indication that the product is not cured.
> ...




Exactly!

If it's not cured or cured and smoked, everybody should stop calling it "Ham", just like we don't call a raw belly "Bacon".

Call it Green, fresh, and raw pork, but not Ham.

I don't have any idea how to get "everybody" to stop calling it Ham, but I would think the USDA could make a good start by stopping calling it "Ham" themselves.

Bear


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