smoke a ham

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pittsburghsmoke

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 9, 2009
3
10
Good morning everyone. I am new to smoking. I just picked up an inexpensive electric Brinkman smoker and wanted to smoke a ham this weekend for Easter. I bought a 6 pound leg of pork , raw that I would like it to taste like a country ham. I do not like sweet meat, more like the flavor of Cracker Barrels smoked ham is what I am going for. Can anyone tell me what I need to do to accomplish this flavor? I have Hickory chuncks also to use.

Thanks,
Pittsburghsmoke
 
Don't believe you're going to get a ham taste. In order to get a ham out of fresh pork, it needs to be cured first, then smoked.

Without curing, you're going to end up with either roast pork, or pulled pork depending on how long you smoke it.

You might get close to a ham(ish) flavor smoking with Maple..like most bacon.

Takes a week or more to cure the pork, so if you're shooting for Easter, not gonna happen.

You can always go buy a pre-cured ham if you can find one, or get a precooked one and use the smoker to heat it up.
 
Yea,

Country ham like Cracker Barrel will need up to 6 months of rest after a 30 day cure and 2 day smoke.

Trying to smoke such a large piece of raw meat is difficult for even the most experienced smokers. I assume it's 15 - 20 lbs I'll repeat rock's advice Buy a pre-cooked ham, give it a good half day or so on a slow smoke and then glaze and bring up to temp in a oven. If you watch the temp of the ham with a thermometer and are willing to keep a close eye on it you can skip the oven portion and do all your cooking in the smoker.

Check some of the posts in the Pork section of this site, you may find some better ideas then the ones I offered.


Good luck, let us know what you decided to do.

Al
 
Welcome to SMF. Take advantage of the information that is available here in both the posts and the members knowledge.

I don't need to repeat the great advice already given to you. There is not enough time between now and Easter for you to achieve your desired result.
 
thanks for the advice. I think I have decided to make pulled pork instead. I have found some really good looking recipes and I am going to try smoking potatoes also and turn into wedges when smoked a bit.

Thanks again eveyone!
icon_confused.gif
 
Welcome aboard Pittsburghsmoke....be sure to take pics and post your smoke
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welcome, these folks will have you curing ham and venturing into things you never considered before to long.
 
I cut the spuds into wedges first, then hit them with a little olive oil and salt and pepper then smoke them. If you are in a hurry you can microwave first then follow the above steps.
 
Hello Pittsburghsmoke, and welcome to the SMF family. Glad you joined us. You'll like it here, lots of friendly and helpful folks.
 
Welcome to the SMF, fellow country ham lover! You will find every bit of information, advice and photographic evidence you might ever need right here.

Here's a link to the place I still order my hams from, long after I moved away from there,

http://adamspeanuts.com/

And if you aske them real nice, they might also sell you country cured picnic shoulders and local molasses that they don't even bother to advertise.
 
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