Ham This Weekend

[Leaky]

I just picked up an 11 lb butt half smoked ham for Sunday. (Rainbow .99 lb). Have cooked many hams before but looking for some new ideas. What do you do? Brines? Glazes?

[McGurk]

One thing is to cook it at a lower temp (250 deg or so) for much longer to render out more of the fat. I use a roasting pan, elevate it off of the bottom of the pan with the rack, put a bit of water in the pan, and then cover it up with the lid. This will keep it moist while cooking while it gets rid of some of the fat. I also let it rest after you have gotten it to your desired temp but before slicing, to keep the juices in the meat and not on the plate. The easiest way is to this is to remove it from the roasting pan onto a platter, and cover it tightly with tin foil. Then, cover it with a few old large towels to keep it from cooling too fast. You could even put it in a large cooler and do the tin foil and towel thing for better results. I usually aim for an hour or so if I can afford the time. Believe me; it will make a difference in tenderness and juiciness.

I'm not much of a glaze guy, but I'll put some whole cloves all over it, and sometimes add a light pepper dusting.

[Macgyver55]

The wife cooks our ham with honey, pineapple and brown sugar.

I dont know the specific amounts of each, but I do know there are lots of compliments and rarely any leftovers.

She got the recipe from the local meat market

[thirdeye]

I just picked up an 11 lb butt half smoked ham for Sunday. (Rainbow .99 lb). Have cooked many hams before but looking for some new ideas. What do you do? Brines? Glazes?

Is your ham marked "ready to eat" or "ready to cook"? If it's a ready to eat ham it only needs to get to an internal temp of 140°, a ready to cook ham needs to go to an internal of 165°.

New ideas 'eh? Heheheee. Okay you asked for it....This is going to be long, but it is one of the most famous ham recipes out there. this version calls for a store bought marinade to use for the injection. If you want, I have Dr Chicken's "Sweet Kiss of Death" recipe for a homemade injection. It has vanilla extract, butter pecan extract, orange extract, and rum extract along with some Ammeretto and corn syrup.

Dr. Chicken’s Double Smoked Ham

Ham should be a fully cooked or partially cooked 1/2 shank variety or can be shoulder variety (water added can be used, as long as the water added does not exceed 23% water added product.) If it is pre-smoked with hickory, that seems to work out best. Patti/Jean or Cooks among the best, but other varieties can be used!

Glazing Sauce:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup (use dark grade B real maple syrup if available)(dark grade B has more flavor than grade A)

1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

1 – 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp instant coffee granules (use a good brand because it makes a difference)

1 Tbsp dry ground mustard

2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate (a good brand provides better flavor)

Blend all ingredients in a sauce pan with a wire whip and heat slightly until everything combines into a viscous or thick looking sauce.

Note: Use an injectable marinade such as Tony Chachere’s Pecan-Honey-Praline in the ham just before cooking to “explode” the flavor of the ham. Be sure to use it @ the recommended rate of 2 fl. Ozs. per pound. It really does take that much to do the job right!

Oven Cooking instructions:

Score outer skin of ham to a depth of 1/2 inch in a crisscross diamond pattern. This will allow the glazing sauce to penetrate below the skin, into the actual ham. Place ham (un-glazed) into a shallow roasting pan or roasting rack. If pineapple and cherries are desired on the outside, add them when you start the glazing process. Cook in oven @ 275° – 300° with a loose tent of aluminum foil over the top for 25 to 30 minutes per lb. Baste with glazing sauce the last hour of cooking time and continue to cook until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140°. Remove from oven and allow to sit covered for 20 to 30 minutes before carving!

Cooking instructions for outdoor cooking:

This can be done on a grill over indirect heat or in a water smoker or other type of cooker, again over indirect heat or “low & slow” type cooking. Do not tent over ham if done on grill, water smoker or other cooker; this would prevent smoke from penetrating the ham. Place water soaked chunks of mesquite, hickory or pecan (we prefer the smoke of pecan over all the others) on coals 5 minutes before putting ham on cooker. (EDIT from ~thirdeye~ I let my wood burn down longer than 5 minutes)This will allow the ham to obtain maximum smoke flavor during the second cook cycle. (the first cook cycle is the cycle the processor uses.) If even more smoke flavor is desired, place ham in freezer for 1 to 1 ½ hours prior to cooking to allow outer edges of ham to start to freeze. Go easy on this procedure; you don’t want the ham frozen hard!

Maintain temperature of cooker/grill at 225° to 275° during cook cycle.

If using a water smoker, fill water pan ¾ full with hot water and add 2 cups of orange, pineapple, or orange/pineapple mix, sweetened grapefruit or apple juice to the water. (all of them act as tenderizer as the steam penetrates the meat.) (I use a 3/4 full drip pan when cooking on the Eggs, filled with a 50:50 mix of water and orange juice.)

Again, cook for 25 to 30 minutes per lb. until internal temp on the ham shows 140°. A couple of books suggest 145° and 160° respectively. Shirley O. Corriher in her book “CookWise” suggests 140°. We found this to be exactly right. After removing from the Egg, it will climb up to 145° internally. The ham will retain it moistness and the flavor will go thru out the ham this way.

Baste ham with glazing sauce every 10 to 15 minutes during the last hour of cooking time. Glazing compound will burn, so do not start glazing the ham until the internal temp of the ham reaches 120°.

NOTE: The secret to this process is plenty of smoke and the real maple syrup and granular coffee crystals in the glazing sauce. Use a cheaper cut of ham like mentioned before, and people will think you bought an expensive ham that you had to “hock” your kids for! Yuk! Yuk! (see my pun there?) The glazing sauce will give the ham a fantastic taste, smell and color!

[bucketmouth64]

Anyone try those oven bags? Would that keep the ham moist and shorten cooking time.

[thirdeye]

Anyone try those oven bags? Would that keep the ham moist and shorten cooking time.

My granny used to cook them in a paper bag from the grocery store.

[Leaky]

Nice - I have everything up at the lake for the glaze and will plan on doing it in the oven using McGurks technique. Have also used bags in the past. It does help keep it moist and easy clean up, it just makes it a little harder to baste while cooking.

[ThunderLund78]

We normally just throw it in the roasting pan but instead of a little water for moisture we use apple cider, usually baste it a few times during cooking, but the trick is to not overcook it. In fact, cook it until it's almost done (about 10 degrees short). Then slice it and put it in a crock pot and dump the cider drippings in--just enough so you can see it between the slices. Cook on low for another hour or so and serve either plain or on sandwiches or whatever. YUM!