Smoked Ham for Christmas Dinner

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peixegato

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Feb 17, 2010
78
17
Berkeley, CA
Hello All!

I decided to buy a ham and throw it on the smoker for Christmas dinner this year.  After a search of the forum for techniques, I settled on what has become commonly referred to as the "Bear Method".  As you can tell from the photos, I have switched from using a Char-griller offset smoker to a MasterBuilt electric smoker.

While the smoker was coming up to temp, I set the ham out on the counter so that it wouldn't go on the smoker "cold".  The total weight of the bone-in ham was about 9.5lbs.  For the pieces of fat, I decided to try using one of those veggie grill baskets instead of messing around with poking holes into an aluminum pan and it worked out great (and put a nice seasoning on my "veggie" basket that I'm not sure the vegetarians will be too happy about, lol).

I smoked the ham at 215F and opted for hickory chips.  I was going to mix hickory and apple, but I got lazy and stuck to just one type of wood.  I also decided to skip the glaze, as I don't really like a sweet syrup on my ham.  Maybe next time I'll make some to serve on the side.  Much to my surprise, the ham reached 145F in just 3.5 hours!  When I read Bear's post, I was expecting a 6-7 hour smoke.  I'm not sure why mine was done so quickly.  Maybe it was the temperature I smoked it at.

I served the ham with corn pudding, sauteed green beans, and dinner rolls.  The ham was a big hit and I will definitely be cooking my hams this way from now on.  I'll probably try smoking at lower temps and using different wood, just to see the difference.

Ham is prepped and ready for the smoker


Just put the ham on the smoker


This is the "veggie" grill basket I used for the fat so it can baste the ham while it smokes


After just 3.5 hours at 215F, the ham is at 145F and ready to come off


The basked worked like a charm!


Ready for slicing


Time to eat dinner!


I hope everyone had a great Holiday season!

Greg
 
Definitely looks Mighty Tasty, Greg!!
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Glad it worked good for you.
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I might get mine from Christmas Day done today & post it too. Takes awhile when you type with one finger!

Bear
 
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