Early Easter Ham

[lcruzen]

I bought an 11 lb fresh picnic @ $.69 per Lb about 3 weeks ago for our Easter dinner and our plans changed. We are now going to Mario's in Detroit with friends and family for Easter dinner but I didn't let that stop me. We'll just eat it this weekend. I used Morton Tenderquick wet cure recipe of 1 cup TQ to 4 cups water and added brown sugar, CBP, and garlic. I injected said cure all along the bone and then dropped in a bucket with the rest of the cure solution. Been in the cure & refrigerated since 3/16. Put it in the smoker yesterday at about 5:00pm@ 100o.

I bumped up the temp to 180o this morning about 9:00.



I'll let it go til it gets up to 152o. Tomorrow I'll braise it in the oven to tenderize it. More pics to follow as it progresses.

 

[irishteabear]

Looking good! Be sure to keep us posted.

 

[vtanker]

wow! looks great cant wait to see more.

 

[crewcab4x4]

Keep us posted! My mouth is watering. Can't wait to see the finished ham.

Jason

 

[lcruzen]

So from about 9:00am this morning til 5:00pm the picnic was smoked with cherry and hit an internal temp of 160o.



Had to slice a piece off to taste. Not salty at all and incredibly tasty.



This cut of meat does not lend itself to nice even slices due to the bones within so that is why I braise it for several hours so the meat comes off the bones easily.



So tomorrow it will be finished and served with Cowgirls chipotle slaw, mac & cheese, green beans, and NY cheese cake. I'll post pics of it all tomorrow!

 

[crewcab4x4]

Lookin good! You'll be eating good today.

Jason

 

[lcruzen]

Just getting around to posting the final pics. Braised the ham with some beer @ 300 for about 4 hours so the meat fell off the bone.



Baked mac and cheese.



Chipotle slaw



And NY Cheese cake



Good Sunday dinner. Thanx for looking!

Lou

 

[cowgirl]

Lou....I'm on my way!! lol

Everything looks fantastic!!

 

[crewcab4x4]

THAT LOOKS AWESOME!!

Jason

 

[the dude abides]

God bless you for this.

 

[pittsburghsmoke]

I'm new to smoking. I picked up a 6lb picnic ham yesterday and want to smoke it on Saturday in electric smoker. I am looking for information on how to get a nice smoky country ham flavor, not sweet. Do I brine? And if so with what and how? Do I rub and again if so with what. Thanks

 

[lcruzen]

I wasn't around much this weekend and missed your post. This info may be too late but may prove helpful next time.

You stated it was a picnic ham so it should have been already smoked. My advise would be to season it up with your favorite rub and smoke at 250o until your reach internal temp of 160o. From that point foil it and take it to 200-210o. This type of ham has a lot of fat and bone which IMO makes it one of the tastiest but does not lend itself very well to even slices so I prefer it to fall off the bone and "chunk it". I don't like sweet ham either so you could mop with apple juice and bourbon.

Again, I hope this is helpful even though probably too late.

 

[big red]

We did up ham for Easter again this year but went with a fresh (uncured) ham that we cured and smoked. The only word for it is SPECTACULAR! We bought a 22lb, skin on ham from our local butcher, skinned it and trimmed off the fat, cured it in TQ for 20 days and put it in a 200 degree smoker for 12 hours. Pulled it out of the smoker and coated it with a maple pecan glaze and put it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes to get the glaze to melt. All in all it was really easy other than the fact you need fridge space for 20 to 25 days. There is no way to buy a pre-cooked ham that will come close to comparing. May try leaving some of the fat on the ham next time to help it hold the glaze.

 

[mballi3011]

that looks great and more than yummie!!!!

 

[grothe]

That's a great lookin ham...