Hickory Smoked Ham Recipes

HOW TO SMOKE A HAM

Steps:

• What you put in your spice rub will depend on personal tastes.
• Salt, sugar, onion powder, and paprika are all popular options. Any kind of barbecue spice mix could work, as well.
• Once the rub is assembled and mixed together, take a sharp knife and cut perpendicular lines through just the skin on your ham (it should look like a checker board by the time you're done).
• Coat your ham in the rub and pat it firmly against all sides, making sure the rub gets into the cuts you made.
• Place your ham on a metal baking sheet and cover it with plastic wrap, placing it in the refrigerator for at least four hours and up to fourteen to allow the meat to absorb the flavor.
• Simply light a few chunks of charcoal and your wood chips (or log if you prefer) and allow the smoker to come to temperature, somewhere between 230 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Take the ham out of the fridge and remove the plastic wrap or aluminum foil, letting it warm up slightly for half an hour (to save time, you could do this part right before you start up your smoker).
• After the ham has come up to temperature, place ham directly onto the smoker grate, flat side down.
• You should not place ham too close to the firebox, as this could cause the sugars on the outside of the ham to burn rather than caramelize.
• You'll want to smoke your ham for at least three hours, though you should only go longer at your own peril.
• Keep the heat at a consistent temperature for the entire time.Medium heat is fine.
• If the heat starts to drop down, adjust the temperature as needed and check to see if you need to add more charcoal or wood to keep the firing burning hot and the smoke cloud dense.
• While these steps are optional, they make your meat that much more succulent and delicious and are more than worth the effort.
• Every half hour, thoroughly spritz your ham with apple juice in a spray bottle.
• After around two and half hours of smoking, you can apply barbecue sauce to the outside of the ham, coating liberally.
• You could mix around 1/4 of a cup of honey into your sauce for extra sweetness and to add a marvelous shine to the outside of your ham once it's finished.
• Once you've reached your desired level of smokiness, remove ham from the smoker and serve it however you like.
• As the ham was already cooked before you started the smoking process, you won't need to let it rest before digging in.

HICKORY SMOKED HAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees F. Remove ham from package. Place Spiral Sliced Ham face down in roasting pan. Cover pan with aluminum foil; bake ham 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare sugar rub. Combine brown sugar with dry mustard, lime rind, ginger, allspice, cloves and finely chopped pecans in bowl. Mix thouroughly with fork. Stir in lime juice to moisten sugar mixture evenly. Set rub aside.
• Remove ham from oven and uncover pan. Pat and rub sugar mixture over warm ham, covering top end first, then smearing mixture down the sides as evenly as possible.
• Return ham to oven. Bake uncovered 30 to 45 minutes, basting meat with pan juices every 15 minutes. Ham is done when center reaches 150 degrees F. On meat thermometer.
• Remove ham from roasting pan; place on wire rack and let rest 10-15 minutes.
• Carve ham off bone and serve.

HONEY-CURED, HICKORY-SMOKED SHOULDER HAM

Steps:

• Make the brine: In a large pot, place 2 1/2 quarts water, the salt, honey, brown sugar and Prague powder. Bring to a boil over high, stirring until the salt, honey and sugar are dissolved.
• Make the spice bundle: Tie the cloves, allspice berries, bay leaves, lemon zest and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth.
• Stir the spice bundle and another 2 1/2 quarts ice water into the brine, remove from heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
• While the brine cools, prepare the ham: Using paper towels, blot the pork shoulder dry on all sides. Using a sharp knife, score the ham in a crosshatch pattern, cutting through the skin but not through the meat and spacing the cuts 1 1/2 inches apart. (This is optional, as you'll remove the skin, but it facilitates injecting and gives the ham a striking appearance.)
• Measure out 2 cups brine and place in a deep measuring cup. Place the ham in a roasting pan. Draw the brine into a marinade injector and inject it deep into the ham all over, inserting the needle at 1 1/2-inch intervals and drawing it out slowly as you depress the plunger, until the brine starts to squirt out of the surface of the ham.
• Place the ham in a large pot or food-safe bucket with a lid, or 3-gallon resealable plastic bag. Add the brine and flavorings (plus any brine in the roasting pan). If using a plastic bag, tightly seal, squeezing out any air, and place the bag in the roasting pan to corral any leaks. Brine the ham in the refrigerator for 3 days, turning the ham twice a day so it cures evenly.
• Pour the brine into a large pot and set aside. Remove the ham from its pot or bag and transfer it to a roasting pan. Using the marinade injector, re-inject the ham with brine (using 2 cups again, or more, if you can get more in), inserting the needle at 1 1/2-inch intervals. Return the ham and all the brine to the bag. (You can use a fresh bag, if you wish.) Continue brining the ham in the refrigerator for another 3 days, turning twice a day so it brines evenly. When ready for smoking, the meat will take on a pinkish hue.
• Drain the ham in a large colander, discarding the brine. Rinse the ham well with cold water, drain again and blot dry with paper towels. Place it on a wire rack over a roasting pan and let it dry for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator.
• If using a charcoal grill, set it up for indirect grilling and heat it to 250 degrees. If using wood chips, soak them in water to cover for 30 minutes, then drain. If using wood chunks, there is no need to soak them. (With a kettle grill, use less charcoal than normal to obtain this low temperature.) If using a smoker, heat it to 250 degrees following the manufacturer's instructions.
• Place the ham on the grate, fat-side up, using indirect heat, and add 1 1/2 cups wood chips or 2 wood chunks to the coals. Smoke the ham until handsomely browned and cooked through. (The internal temperature will be about 160 degrees.) This typically takes about 7 hours, but you may need more or less time, depending on your ham, smoker and the weather. Add wood chips (about 1 1/2 cups) or chunks (1 large or 2 medium) per hour to the embers to maintain a constant flow of smoke. Rotate your ham a few times during cooking so that it browns evenly, and drape it loosely with foil if it seems to be darkening too much.
• Transfer the ham to a cutting board and let it cool for 20 minutes. Pull off the skin. (If you're feeling ambitious, you can fry the skin in 350-degree oil to make smoke-flavored cracklings.)
• Thinly slice the ham across the grain and serve. You can serve the ham hot, at room temperature, or chilled. Refrigerated, it will keep for at least a week.

HOW TO COOK A SMOKED HAM

Steps:

• Remove completely defrosted ham from fridge about 60 minutes prior to cooking. Mix all ingredients except whole cloves and maple syrup in a dish and use your hands to evenly coat the ham with the spice mix.
• Preheat oven to 325F. Line a large roasting pan with tin foil and set aside.Place spice covered ham on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to make 1" diagonal slices (about 1/4" deep) into the layer of exposed fat. Repeat in the other direction to make a diamond pattern.
• Place one whole clove in the middle of each diamond.
• Move ham to roasting pan and place in the oven. Bake, undisturbed for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• Remove roasting pan and baste ham with 1/2 of the maple syrup. Return to oven and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
• Remove and raise heat to 450F. Baste ham with remaining maple syrup and return to oven for an additional 15 minutes. If there are any very dark spots that you think may burn, fold a small piece of tin foil into a square and gently cover those spots.

BAKED HAM WITH MAPLE GLAZE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Trim excess fat off the ham and score in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, making shallow cuts about 1 inch apart. Place in a roasting pan.
• Roast for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. In a small bowl, mix together the maple syrup, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and mustard powder.
• When the 30 minutes are up, brush 1/3 of the glaze over the ham. Bake 20 minutes, and repeat twice with remaining glaze. Let the ham stand for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

TWICE SMOKED HAM WITH BROWN SUGAR HONEY GLAZE

Steps:

• Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees f.
• Place the ham, cut side down, directly on the grill grates.
• Close the lid and smoke the ham for 1.5 hours.
• Place the ham in a large 12 inch cast iron skillet. Pour 1 cup of chicken stock over the ham and then cover the ham and the top of the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Close the lid, increase the temperature on your smoker to 300 degrees F and continue cooking for an additional 2 hours, or until the internal temperature reads 140 degrees F.
• When the ham is almost done cooking, prepare the glaze. In a small saucepan, combine all of the glaze ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently with a whisk, just until the glaze comes to a boil. Remove from the heat immediately.
• Remove the ham from the smoker and open up the foil. Drain off any excess cooking liquid and set aside for serving. Turn the ham over onto it's side and brush liberally with the brown sugar honey glaze.
• Place the glazed ham into your oven on High broil. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the glaze is bubbling and caramelized.
• Serve immediately with the drippings from the cast iron skillet on the side, if desired.