I'm still pretty new at this, and I know this isn't the way most folks do it, but I thought I'd share our Easter Lunch from the smoker. I have an MES 30" Electric smoker. My wife wanted to smoke a pre-cooked Spiral cut ham, and some salmon.
The ham is just a pre-cooked ham, spiral cut, and she put slices of orange, and sprigs of thyme randomly between the spiral slices.
The salmon was put into a sort of brown sugar, salt, and thyme 'cure', that drew out moisture to create it's own brine. Skin side up, flesh down in the cure, overnight in the fridge, then flipped to skin side down while it comes to room temperature.
MES was set to 225 degrees this morning, with a 70/30 mix of soaked apple/pecan chips, and the ham was put in, in the tray, before we left for church.
Ham ended up staying in for about three and a half hours, to internal temp of 145 degrees, figure that's ok, since it's already cured and cooked.
More chips added in about halfway through the cook.
Salmon added in, also still in the tray, and in the brine/cure, and smoked for about 20-30 minutes at the end. Didn't temp it, but the white stuff had all come out, and flesh was flaky and cooked.
Both were pulled, and basted with the juices from their respective pans while they rested.
Both ended up juicy and delicious, without an overpowering smoke flavor.
First pics, I hope they're ok.
Casey
Edited to add: Forgot to mention that I trimmed some fat, then put that in a small pan with holes in the bottom of it, above the ham, to drip rendered fat down over the ham as it smokes. Leaves some wonderfully, smoky, 'crispy bits' to nibble on while the meat is resting and getting basted. Forgot to take a pic of that, but it was good :)
The ham is just a pre-cooked ham, spiral cut, and she put slices of orange, and sprigs of thyme randomly between the spiral slices.
The salmon was put into a sort of brown sugar, salt, and thyme 'cure', that drew out moisture to create it's own brine. Skin side up, flesh down in the cure, overnight in the fridge, then flipped to skin side down while it comes to room temperature.
MES was set to 225 degrees this morning, with a 70/30 mix of soaked apple/pecan chips, and the ham was put in, in the tray, before we left for church.
Ham ended up staying in for about three and a half hours, to internal temp of 145 degrees, figure that's ok, since it's already cured and cooked.
More chips added in about halfway through the cook.
Salmon added in, also still in the tray, and in the brine/cure, and smoked for about 20-30 minutes at the end. Didn't temp it, but the white stuff had all come out, and flesh was flaky and cooked.
Both were pulled, and basted with the juices from their respective pans while they rested.
Both ended up juicy and delicious, without an overpowering smoke flavor.
First pics, I hope they're ok.
Casey
Edited to add: Forgot to mention that I trimmed some fat, then put that in a small pan with holes in the bottom of it, above the ham, to drip rendered fat down over the ham as it smokes. Leaves some wonderfully, smoky, 'crispy bits' to nibble on while the meat is resting and getting basted. Forgot to take a pic of that, but it was good :)
