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...

pigcicles · Dec 23, 2007

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

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!

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...

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

ron50 · Dec 23, 2007

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

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!

irwinwd · Dec 24, 2007

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

smokey bryan · Dec 24, 2007

that looks good i wished i could smell it

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.

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...

smokeys my pet · Dec 24, 2007

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

msmith · Dec 24, 2007

Looking very awesome.

cowgirl · Dec 24, 2007

Mmmm, that looks great!

big-fokker · Dec 25, 2007

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

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!

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!

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?

smokeys my pet · Jan 1, 2008

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

bustedluckbarbq · Jan 1, 2008

Wow - that looks GREAT!!!

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