When I started smoking, I hadn't found Smoking Meat Forums. Things did not go well. Then I found SMF while searching for recipes. One of the first projects I tried from SMF was Bearcarver's Double Smoked Ham. The link is:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/236101/double-smoked-ham-bear-style
It was wonderful and along with the other posts on SMF I gathered confidence and what modest success I have had comes from this forum.
As good as the double smoked ham was, Bear did cause me pain in one way. I followed his recipe exactly as I was learning. His glaze is spiced with cinnamon, ginger and cloves. This is a classic ham glaze seasoning but I have never really cared for these sweeter spices in my ham glazes. I could and did make subsequent hams with my own glazes and had great results. The problem is that She Who Must Be Obeyed liked the seasoning from Bear's recipe. Having been married for 41 years I have learned that keeping the missus happy is always a good thing.
So when some friends came to town to visit and requested a double smoked ham, I made an apple glaze based on Bear's spice mixture.
I follow Bear's method quite closely with a couple of my own additions.
I started with a nice 2.8 kg (6 pound) ham.
The night before cooking, I cut a 1/4 inch deep score in an one inch diamond shape on all surfaces of the ham.
I made an injecting liquid of 75 ml (1/3 cup) apple juice, 75 ml (1/3 cup) maple syrup, a pinch of dry mustard, pinch of ginger, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, pinch of ginger, and pinch of cloves.
I injected the ham every inch or so.
I put the ham in the fridge uncovered overnight. The next day I fired up the pellet smoker with hickory pellets to 180 F and put the ham in. I lit up my A-Maze-N Tube Smoker with hickory pellets and put it in the chamber. It went on at 8:30 am.
While it was cooking, I made my glaze mixture:
50 ml (1/4 cup) apple jelly (I actually used some crab apple jelly)
25 ml (2 tablespoons) maple syrup
25 ml (2 tablespoons) brown sugar
3 ml (1/2 teaspoon) dry mustard
1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) cinnamon
1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) nutmeg
1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) ginger
1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) cloves
I mixed those together and heated over low heat until it was well mixed.
I let it cook to an internal temperature of 120 F which took until 4:15 pm.
I took the ham in and brushed it with the glaze mix.
I put it in a 210 F oven for 2 hours which brought the IT to 143 F. I just don't like to have a glazed ham in the smoker. I find it catches ash from the pellet smoker.
I let it sit for 10 minutes before carving.
I am sorry that I didn't get pictures of the carving in the rush of setting the meal for a dinner party but here are my breakfast slices from the next day.
The Verdict
I thank Bear so much for introducing me to this dish. It has a great smoke flavour, the sweetness went through the ham and the glaze was sweet and savoury even though it had the spices I normally eschew. The guests and the missus really enjoyed it.
I will get over the fact I can't make my favourite glazes... I guess... someday... what the heck I will still make it my way from time to time. She Who Must Be Obeyed said it was OK.
Disco
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/236101/double-smoked-ham-bear-style
It was wonderful and along with the other posts on SMF I gathered confidence and what modest success I have had comes from this forum.
As good as the double smoked ham was, Bear did cause me pain in one way. I followed his recipe exactly as I was learning. His glaze is spiced with cinnamon, ginger and cloves. This is a classic ham glaze seasoning but I have never really cared for these sweeter spices in my ham glazes. I could and did make subsequent hams with my own glazes and had great results. The problem is that She Who Must Be Obeyed liked the seasoning from Bear's recipe. Having been married for 41 years I have learned that keeping the missus happy is always a good thing.
So when some friends came to town to visit and requested a double smoked ham, I made an apple glaze based on Bear's spice mixture.
I follow Bear's method quite closely with a couple of my own additions.
I started with a nice 2.8 kg (6 pound) ham.
The night before cooking, I cut a 1/4 inch deep score in an one inch diamond shape on all surfaces of the ham.
I made an injecting liquid of 75 ml (1/3 cup) apple juice, 75 ml (1/3 cup) maple syrup, a pinch of dry mustard, pinch of ginger, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, pinch of ginger, and pinch of cloves.
I injected the ham every inch or so.
I put the ham in the fridge uncovered overnight. The next day I fired up the pellet smoker with hickory pellets to 180 F and put the ham in. I lit up my A-Maze-N Tube Smoker with hickory pellets and put it in the chamber. It went on at 8:30 am.
While it was cooking, I made my glaze mixture:
50 ml (1/4 cup) apple jelly (I actually used some crab apple jelly)
25 ml (2 tablespoons) maple syrup
25 ml (2 tablespoons) brown sugar
3 ml (1/2 teaspoon) dry mustard
1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) cinnamon
1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) nutmeg
1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) ginger
1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) cloves
I mixed those together and heated over low heat until it was well mixed.
I let it cook to an internal temperature of 120 F which took until 4:15 pm.
I took the ham in and brushed it with the glaze mix.
I put it in a 210 F oven for 2 hours which brought the IT to 143 F. I just don't like to have a glazed ham in the smoker. I find it catches ash from the pellet smoker.
I let it sit for 10 minutes before carving.
I am sorry that I didn't get pictures of the carving in the rush of setting the meal for a dinner party but here are my breakfast slices from the next day.
The Verdict
I thank Bear so much for introducing me to this dish. It has a great smoke flavour, the sweetness went through the ham and the glaze was sweet and savoury even though it had the spices I normally eschew. The guests and the missus really enjoyed it.
I will get over the fact I can't make my favourite glazes... I guess... someday... what the heck I will still make it my way from time to time. She Who Must Be Obeyed said it was OK.
Disco
Last edited: