Smoked / Barbecued Fresh Ham...

[Washblue]

Editing…

[RonB]

I'd treat it like a butt, but pull it before probe tender. I hope someone who has done one will be more helpful. Are ya gonna sauce it or rub it?

[DavidNorcross]

Interested in this thread. I agree with Ron.

[bbqLuv]

Me too, I join this movement,

[Stuey1515]

[Panhead John]

I know this isn’t very adventurous, or quite what you’re looking for, but it’s one of the best tasting hams I’ve had, and it’s the easiest way also. I just take a regular old grocery store butt ham and rub it all over with Tony Chachere’s. I smoke it in the kettle with hickory chunks for about 2-3 hours. I brought one to work one year and everyone loved it. My boss told me I oughta sell em. Took that as a big compliment.

[Panhead John]

DaveD The hams I get like this are precooked and don’t really need to be brought to any particular IT. You basically want to keep them on the smoker long enough to absorb the smoke and get hot throughout the ham, all the way to the center. I’ve never checked for an IT on it. But, for the average size ham I found it takes a minimum of 2 hours and maximum 3, for it to absorb good smoke and get hot. I’m doing a low and slow off heat at around 250 or so. Hickory is a killer wood to use for it!

[DaveD]

Yep, mine is fully cooked as well, I guess my question is really, what's the good serving temp for ham. I'm sure somewhere around 130-135F/54-57C will be fine. I happen to have 100% hickory pellets in my hopper, so I'll dial in 225 and go until IT hits that range.

[Panhead John]

Sounds like a good plan Dave. Let us know how it turns out.

[DaveD]

Also following along, because I've got a spiral-sliced bone-in ham just delivered this morning from our local dairy. It's fully cooked, so my plan is to bring it to temp in the smoker in similar fashion to what Panhead John just posted. I don't have any Tony Chachere's on hand, but I figure Memphis Dust oughta work just fine. Need to figure out a glaze...

[DaveD]

Going to keep it simple on the glaze, just butter, brown sugar, honey, garlic, pepper. Can't go wrong with those ingredients!

[Panhead John]

Hey Dave, if you can get some Tony’s for your ham, in time for the cook, try it! You won’t be disappointed. And use hickory, it goes with ham like peanut butter does jelly.

[DaveD]

I'll try the Tony's next time -- keeping it as simple as possible this first go-round, establish the baseline and all that

[Jerod Broussard]

Cook it hot and get it brown. Don't be afraid to pan it.

[DavidNorcross]

Washblue just to be clear this ham is not cured and uncooked. Right?

[pkadare]

I'm confused here, if it isn't cured, how can it be a ham? Prior to curing is this not just a pork shoulder? Is the ask here how to cook a raw pork shoulder so you can pull it? If so, the same way as a butt, it is just going to take longer due to the larger size of a shoulder/picnic shoulder.

[pkadare]

Washblue, ok, thanks for clarification. To me, a ham implies cured/smoked, but I can see a hind quarter being referred to as a ham. I still would not treat it any differently than a shoulder or a butt that you want pulled, other than time to cook.

[HawkerXP]

Be sure to take us along on this adventure.

[Panhead John]

Washblue Don’t forget….Hey, grab me another beer will ya?

[texastweeter]

When you say fresh ham, do you mean uncured raw ham or a wetcured (city) uncooked ham?

[pkadare]

See one of the previous comments that answers this.

[texastweeter]

Ok, cut the ham down the middle along the bone so you can open it up. Lay id down meat side down and give it a really good rub on the skin with salt and let sit until it starts to sweat and the salt sticks really good. You wanna go pretty heavy. In the meantime start your fire for the coals. that takedown pit will do great for you, but don't use li e fire in it, just the coals. Burn your wood down elsewhere, and shovel the coals into the bottom of your pit. Once you have plenty of coals and put the ham on skin side down on the grates. Hit the meat side with some salt and a bit of black pepper. Slide that sheet metal lid on and maintain the coal bed so that grate Temps are roughly 250°. Cook skin side down covered the whole time so you get some crispy skin bits to mix in. Mop every 45 minutes or so with a vinegar mop. I prefer habanero vinegar or red pepper vinegar, but I know you like black pepper vinegar and that will do just fine. Once you hit pulling temp, remove it and separate the meat from the skin first. Pull the meat, then chop the crispest parts of the skin to mix back in. If a bit dry, and hams sometimes are, more vinegar sauce and butter are your friends. I have done this a few times with scalded wild hog hams ant it was excellent each time.