Ham

[Pelado]

This thread is intended for all things ham - bone-in, boneless, fresh, dry-cured, wet-cured, country, city, green, corned, and so forth.

I picked up a 20-pound trimmed, boneless, wet-cured, uncooked ham from a local butcher yesterday. I'm planning to smoke it for a family Christmas dinner on Sunday (anticipating about 40 guests). My current plan is to set it at 225-250 degrees and smoke until it reaches 160 degrees internal temp. I'm expecting it to take 12+ hours.

I'll throw some pineapple slices on top at the start of the cook and add a glaze consisting of apple juice, pineapple juice, orange juice, brown sugar and honey periodically during the last hour or so of the cook.

Amazingribs.com, which I usually find quite convincing, indicates that a wet-cured, uncooked ham only has to get to 145 internal temp to be safe as per USDA data shown here. However, I've seen other sites indicate that they preferred the taste/texture at a higher temp (165ish).

Anyone here have any experience with smoking (or cooking in other ways) an uncooked wet-cured ham? Anything I should do differently?

[Pelado]

Anyone here have any experience with smoking (or cooking in other ways) an uncooked wet-cured ham? Anything I should do differently?

So, nobody?

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[CJF]

I’ve never had an uncooked ham. I’ve wanted to make one for a long time. I’m curious how you’re turns out.

[Pelado]

Here are a few pictures to document the process. I got the boneless, trimmed, wet-cured ham from the butcher. They use an injection curing process, so the curing takes less than a day. Typically, they then put all the cured hams in their smokehouse - they don't usually sell the cured ham uncooked. I had to put in a special request. In fact, I couldn't find anyone locally who regularly sells wet-cured, uncooked hams.

There are several places locally that sell fresh hams. I could have gone that route and done the curing process at home. That's probably what I'll do if/when I smoke another uncooked ham. Of course, I couldn't find anyone locally who regularly sells curing salts, so I'll have to order them online ahead of time.

I think the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, but I'll describe them anyway. The ham came from the butcher in the bag with some residual curing solution. I rinsed it off with cold water and then placed it in the smoker topped only with the pineapple slices. I started it 12 hours before meal time at 250 degrees. I'm hoping to be able to turn the temp down a bit as the cook progresses, but I want to be sure it finishes in time. Not sure what to expect as far as timing since I haven't smoked a single slab of meat this large before (20 pounds). Since I'm only taking it to 160 though, I'm thinking it shouldn't really take that long.



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[Pelado]

After two hours at 250, the internal temp is up to 90. I turned the smoker down to 225.

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[cowboy]

This thread is intended for all things ham - bone-in, boneless, fresh, dry-cured, wet-cured, country, city, green, corned, and so forth.

I picked up a 20-pound trimmed, boneless, wet-cured, uncooked ham from a local butcher yesterday. I'm planning to smoke it for a family Christmas dinner on Sunday (anticipating about 40 guests). My current plan is to set it at 225-250 degrees and smoke until it reaches 160 degrees internal temp. I'm expecting it to take 12+ hours.

I'll throw some pineapple slices on top at the start of the cook and add a glaze consisting of apple juice, pineapple juice, orange juice, brown sugar and honey periodically during the last hour or so of the cook.

Amazingribs.com, which I usually find quite convincing, indicates that a wet-cured, uncooked ham only has to get to 145 internal temp to be safe as per USDA data shown here. However, I've seen other sites indicate that they preferred the taste/texture at a higher temp (165ish).

Anyone here have any experience with smoking (or cooking in other ways) an uncooked wet-cured ham? Anything I should do differently?

Sorry, didn't see this until today. Yes, I'd suggest two things:

1) Feed the damn thing to your dog.

2) Buy a prime rib or strip loin.

Other than that, you're on to something good here.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hey pelado I have never done this but am watching with interest. Keep posting pics. What wood are you using?

[Topper]

Pelado that looks delicious.

[smokymountainrain]

dang. i think i know what the smr family is having for christmas.

[CardiacCoug]

That looks awesome Pelado.

Good idea to go for the higher temp I think.

[Pelado]

After two hours at 250, internal temp was 90, prompting me to turn it down to 225. Half an hour later, it was up to nearly 100, so I turned it down to 180. After five hours, the temp is up to 130. I added another can of sliced pineapple on top and poured the residual juices from the can over the top of the ham.

I saved the residual juices from the first can of pineapple and combined it with the juice from a jar of maraschino cherries, orange juice, and honey as per the butcher's recommendation. I'll be using that as the glaze as the cook approaches the finish.

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[Pelado]

Sorry, didn't see this until today. Yes, I'd suggest two things:

1) Feed the damn thing to your dog.

2) Buy a prime rib or strip loin.

Other than that, you're on to something good here.

1) Don't have a dog

2) For what I paid for this ham, I should have gone with prime rib. Part of why I'd do the curing process myself if i ever do this again

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[Jeff Lebowski]

1) Don't have a dog

2) For what I paid for this ham, I should have gone with prime rib. Part of why I'd do the curing process myself if i ever do this again

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My FIL used to do his own hams all the time. They were great.

[Pelado]

140 degrees after 6 hours.

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[cowboy]

This thread is an abomination and should be deleted immediately. I always suspected you people were a bunch of Commies.