Smoke a Ham

Smoked ham has a delicious umami flavor and savory moistness that's a treat anytime of the year. Although it's commonly eaten around the end of the year, there's always an excuse to perfect the craft ahead of time. The nice thing is that smoked ham is really pretty easy to cook. A little bit of curing, a basting of glaze, and a trip into the smoker is all it takes. You don't have to cure your ham, but doing so will keep the meat especially juicy and give it its distinctive pink color.

Steps

Curing the Ham

Curing the process of preserving meats with salt, sodium nitrite, and spices. For ham specifically, the curing is less about preservation and more about keeping the meat moist and giving it that characteristic pink color. If you happen to purchase an already-cured ham, skip to Part Two for instructions on how to smoke it.

  1. Mix up your curing brine. Although you can dry-cure your ham, most hams are wet-cured. Instead of being rubbed with salt and sodium nitrite, they are submerged in a curing brine for about a week. Here, the liquid penetrates the meat and keeps it moist. Meanwhile, the salt and sodium nitrite in the liquid brine cure the meat, halting harmful bacteria and turning the meat slightly pink. In one gallon of water, bring the following ingredients to a boil and then allow brine to cool completely:
    • 2 cups brown sugar
    • 1 and 1/2 cups kosher salt
    • 1/2 cup of pickling spice
    • 8 teaspoons of pink salt (not to be confused with sodium nitrite). Pink salt is a mixture of salt and sodium nitrite. It is colored pink so it's not confused with regular table salt. If you were to use 8 teaspoons of sodium nitrite in this recipe, the result could be harmful.
  2. Put your meat into a brining bag. You don't have to use a brining bag for brining, but it makes your job a lot easier. A brining bag will easily fit your ham, zip up for a cleaner brine, and minimize the cleanup time after you're done. If you don't have a brining bag, you can always use a clean (clean is especially important!) watercooler or container that's taller than the tallest point of the ham.
    • If you are using a container or cooler to brine your ham in, be sure to sterilize it beforehand with boiling water. The smallest contamination could cause off-flavors in your final dish.
    • If you're using a container or cooler instead of a brining bag, find something clean to weight the ham down with. You want all parts of the meat exposed to the brine.
  3. When the curing brine is cool, transfer it to the brining bag. Be sure to get all the spices into the brining bag. Fill the brining bag with 1/2 - 1 gallon of cold water to dilute the concentrated brine and cover the ham. Mix thoroughly with a long wooden spoon.
  4. Brine your ham in a cool place for 1 day for every 2 pounds of meat. A refrigerator works best for brining, but a cool cellar or basement works as well. If you're brining a 15 lb. ham, for example, expect to spend about 7 1/2 days curing.
    • Periodically, remove the ham from the refrigerator and inject it with the brining liquid. Use a marinade injector for this. You only have to do this once or twice, at several locations in the ham. Injecting the brine into the meat of the ham will make sure that the curing salts penetrate the deepest parts of the ham.
    • When you're injecting the ham with the brine, take a little bit of time to inspect it. It shouldn't be giving off any strange odors, nor should there be any scum on the brining liquid.[1]
  5. After the recommended curing time, rinse the ham off under cold water. This will get rid of any salt that may have crystallized on the surface.
  6. Set the ham down on a grated screen to drain for 24 hours. Once the ham has drained, take a paper towel and wipe off any excess liquid. Store the ham in the refrigerator for up to a month before using.
    • If you do refrigerate the ham, be careful about what else is in your refrigerator. The fat on the ham, if there is some, will absorb other odors in your refrigerator. You might not want your Christmas ham smelling like leftover risotto.

Smoking the Ham

A cured ham on the smoker is a thing of beauty. Choose lighter, fragrant wood chips, like applewood, for your smoker. And choose a glaze that suits your style. A simple glaze of mustard and honey (or mustard and brown sugar) works wonders as long as it's applied right before the ham is finished smoking.

  1. Make your glaze. In this case, a glaze is a sugar-based coating adds extra flavor to the outside of the meat and absorbs smoke. Getting your glaze right is critical. For a cured ham, a sugary glaze will work best, as it cuts through the saltiness of the cure. Here's one recipe for a glaze you might want to experiment with:
    • In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together:
      • 1 cup honey
      • 1/4 cup whole-grain mustard
      • 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
      • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)[2]
    • Stir until butter is melted and ingredients are completely dissolved, about 3 to 4 minutes. Your glaze is ready to apply!
  2. Turn your smoker on and get it steady at 250° F (121° C). While the smoker is heating up, score the ham with a sharp chef's knife to give it a diamond pattern. While this isn't necessary on all hams, it gives the ham a nice look when finished.
  3. Smoke the ham at 250° F (121° C) for the first two hours. Start off slow. Place the ham unadorned into the smoker, fat side up. Close the lid and smoke for 2 hours at a relatively low heat.
  4. After two hours, turn the heat up to 325° F (163° C). Continue cooking the ham, monitoring its internal temperature closely with a thermometer.
  5. During the final hour of the smoke, apply the glaze to the ham liberally every 15 minutes. That makes four glazes during the final hour. You may wish to glaze the ham for longer than an hour, but the glaze will likely burn a bit. If you don't mind a darker look on some spots of your ham, go ahead!
  6. Remove the ham from the smoker when the internal temperature at the deepest part of the ham reaches 165° F (74° C). Total cooking time on the smoker will take 5 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the ham.
  7. Serve immediately, or store. A smoked ham like this will keep for 6 months or longer if vacuum sealed properly. Enjoy!



Tips

  • Try mixing different kinds of wood chips to give a different flavor.

Warnings

  • Mold can often be found on country-cured ham. Most of these molds are harmless but some molds can produce mycotoxins. Molds grow on hams during the long curing and drying process because the high salt and low temperatures do not inhibit these robust organisms. Do not discard the ham; wash it with hot water and scrub off the mold with a stiff vegetable brush. [3]

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Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/curing_ham.html
  2. ↑ http://www.chow.com/recipes/13715-honey-mustard-glazed-ham
  3. ↑ http://www.nancyskitchen.com/ham-recipes/buying-a-ham.htm

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