Advise on holiday ham pls - spices, temps, process

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Advise on holiday ham pls - spices, temps, process

Postby AKokkinos » Mon Apr 08, 2013 1:47 pm

Hi to all. Apologies for the long post but the intro is needed to clarify what I want to achieve. I have a big party on the 21st, and want to impress them with home made glazed ham. Usually, I buy a ham from the supermarket and rotisserie it on my Weber and applying the glaze towards the end. Using the advise found here, I mastered the sausage and bacon making with great success, but my first ham was somewhat dry. I applied a mixture cure (no herbs or sugar), cured it for a week, and then smoked it in a Weber smoker at 220 F. I applied the glaze at the end. It did taste like a ham but was a drier than the ones bought at the store and rotisseried. So, here I go for the 2nd attempt. The objective is to finish the ham a couple of days before the party, and then rotisserie it and glaze it on the day of the party.
1. Buy the meat, calculate the cure necessary, calculate a 6% injection brine mix and so on. What spices and sugar (if any) do you think will turn this into a traditional holiday ham?
2. Cure for a week, and then smoke it using apple wood at 220 F. What internal temp should I aim for, since it will be finished on the day of the party (the objective is for a moist ham)
3. Rotisserie on the Weber grill and apply the brown sugar/orange juice glaze. What internal temp should i aim for (again, avoid drying the ham)
4. If you kind souls spot an error in the process, please do let me have your suggestions.

Thank you all

Andreas
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Re: Advise on holiday ham pls - spices, temps, process

Postby captain wassname » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:00 pm

1. Spices are subjective but here we usually go with juniper berries and black pepper.
. For a large piece of meat a week would be OK but as this is a bit special you only get one go so if poss. 10-14 days or longer.You cant overdo this type of cure.
2. I would cook this in a bag in a slow cooker full of water to and IT of66-70C.Then cold smoke.
You can glaze on the grill until the glaze looks set.IT is not critical as your meat is already cooked.
Im no authority on smoking so you may get better,or at least different advice from others

Jim
now merely fat
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