An old adage says that imitation is the greatest form of complement. Recently, Bearcarver posted a wonderful thread on double smoked ham:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/141903/double-smoked-hams-times-4-step-by-step
It looked so delicious I had to give it a try. By good fortune, a local grocery store had a sale on precooked ham shanks.
As recommended by Bearcarver, I trimmed the fat. The meat processors had cut most of it already so there was very little.
As the student following the guru, I cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch slashes in the ham facing upwards.
Into the Bradley, preheated to 150. I used a blend of hickory, cherry and oak in the A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker and put the little bit of fat in a foil pan with holes in the bottom over the ham.
Here are the times and temperature (another thing I learned from Bearcarver).
9:30 preheated Bradley to 150 F
10 am put ham in Bradley and increased heat to 190 F IT of ham 50 F
Went to town to run some errands.
12:30 IT of ham 90 F
1:30 IT of ham 96 F
2;30 IT 101 F increased temperature of Bradley to 210 F
3:30 IT of 111 F
4:30 IT of 118 F
5:30 IT of 125 F
Here is the ham at 5:30 as I took it out to glaze it.
I brushed the recipe for the glaze from Bearcarver's post over all surfaces.
6:30 IT of 135
Pulled ham from Bradley and let rest for 15 minutes.
I carved it up and served dinner.
This is the ham that was left AFTER we had dinner and shows you what $8 Canadian of on sale ham shank looks like. This reminds us that barbecue was originally a method to take cheap cuts of meat and make them taste great. There will be many great sandwiches and casseroles from this ham!
The verdict: This was absolutely delicious. The ham was tasty, sweet, moist and deeply smoked. The only change I would make (this is like someone who does paint by numbers telling Da Vinci how to paint) is to stop the smoke after the glaze. The smoke flavour was great but a little strong for a Canadian like me. I think Bearcarver likes a stronger smoke flavour than I do. The smoke on the sticky glaze gave just a tad too much smoke flavour on the surface of the ham for me. However, this is a mild personal preference and I reiterate, the ham was great!
The glaze is very good and I recommend it. I will experiment with some of my favourite glazes now that I have followed Bearcarver's recipe exactly but it will be hard to improve on this simple, sweet and spicy glaze.
I would like to add a thought. I don't think we appreciate how valuable this forum is. If it didn't exist, Bearcarver might have passed this recipe on to a few people, only a few of which would have tried it. Thanks to this forum, a great technique that many of us would never have thought of has been spread through many people who will also pass it on.
I could have spent years learning how to do a pulled pork but SeenRed, KathrynN, Bearcarver, and many others not only passed on their wisdom but walked me through it as I posted. How much would you pay for that kind of education?
Thanks Bearcarver. The recipe is great. From a fat old Canadian, SALUTE!
Disco
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/141903/double-smoked-hams-times-4-step-by-step
It looked so delicious I had to give it a try. By good fortune, a local grocery store had a sale on precooked ham shanks.
As recommended by Bearcarver, I trimmed the fat. The meat processors had cut most of it already so there was very little.
As the student following the guru, I cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch slashes in the ham facing upwards.
Into the Bradley, preheated to 150. I used a blend of hickory, cherry and oak in the A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker and put the little bit of fat in a foil pan with holes in the bottom over the ham.
Here are the times and temperature (another thing I learned from Bearcarver).
9:30 preheated Bradley to 150 F
10 am put ham in Bradley and increased heat to 190 F IT of ham 50 F
Went to town to run some errands.
12:30 IT of ham 90 F
1:30 IT of ham 96 F
2;30 IT 101 F increased temperature of Bradley to 210 F
3:30 IT of 111 F
4:30 IT of 118 F
5:30 IT of 125 F
Here is the ham at 5:30 as I took it out to glaze it.
I brushed the recipe for the glaze from Bearcarver's post over all surfaces.
6:30 IT of 135
Pulled ham from Bradley and let rest for 15 minutes.
I carved it up and served dinner.
This is the ham that was left AFTER we had dinner and shows you what $8 Canadian of on sale ham shank looks like. This reminds us that barbecue was originally a method to take cheap cuts of meat and make them taste great. There will be many great sandwiches and casseroles from this ham!
The verdict: This was absolutely delicious. The ham was tasty, sweet, moist and deeply smoked. The only change I would make (this is like someone who does paint by numbers telling Da Vinci how to paint) is to stop the smoke after the glaze. The smoke flavour was great but a little strong for a Canadian like me. I think Bearcarver likes a stronger smoke flavour than I do. The smoke on the sticky glaze gave just a tad too much smoke flavour on the surface of the ham for me. However, this is a mild personal preference and I reiterate, the ham was great!
The glaze is very good and I recommend it. I will experiment with some of my favourite glazes now that I have followed Bearcarver's recipe exactly but it will be hard to improve on this simple, sweet and spicy glaze.
I would like to add a thought. I don't think we appreciate how valuable this forum is. If it didn't exist, Bearcarver might have passed this recipe on to a few people, only a few of which would have tried it. Thanks to this forum, a great technique that many of us would never have thought of has been spread through many people who will also pass it on.
I could have spent years learning how to do a pulled pork but SeenRed, KathrynN, Bearcarver, and many others not only passed on their wisdom but walked me through it as I posted. How much would you pay for that kind of education?
Thanks Bearcarver. The recipe is great. From a fat old Canadian, SALUTE!
Disco