Sous vide ham for Easter, am I nutz?!

[mattbeagle]

Hey guys,

Thinking of trying something new this Easter. I have an Anova sous vide machine and was thinking of combining the convenience of sous vide for the reheat with the Apricot Glaze recipe from Chris Lilly. Let me explain.

What if I were to reheat these spiral cut ham's, a 9 lb. and an 11 lb., sous vide to 130 degrees overnight with the glaze mixture in the bags. Then, fire up the Vision Grill and glaze the exterior for the final few minutes?

So, am I nutz?! I'd love some feedback.

Poll below!



Matt

[ComfortablyNumb]

Since you have two hams, why not go both ways? Do one your proposed way, the other by the proven recipe.

[mattbeagle]

Hmm, that's an interesting proposal. Could really be interesting.

[Meathead]

That's my thinking. Do it both ways and let us know.

[Potkettleblack]

I don't think I'm gonna vote.

You're going to thin the glaze with purge extracted from the ham. The ham is already cooked. Just heat indirect, glaze and raise the heat.

[Meathead]

Right. The ham will expel a lotta water.

[DWCowles]

That was easy.

[shify]

Sous Vide ham is delicious. Don't have to worry about it drying out before the center is warmed.

I think overnight is too long. The hams are cooked, you just need it in the water long enough to heat through. I think I cooked around 135-140 degrees for 3-4 hours for a 5 lb hung o' ham.
I also dont think anything is to be gained by including the glaze in the bag. Put it on after sous vide and finish in a hot oven or grill. When I did mine, I took it out of the bath, dried it off well and applied the glaze and finished in a 500 degree oven for 10-15 min with 2 more glazings.

[mattbeagle]

Thanks for the comments Shify. I'm wondering if you have a thought on the size of these hams, one 9lbs, one 11lbs and a 1pm eat time. That's why I was thinking of dropping them in before I go to bed. Do you think a larger ham will heat in 6 hours or so?

[shify]

I think 6 hours should be sufficient because you are only heating it through, not cooking it, so I can't image it would take more than 6 hours. I'd be worried that going from say 10pm to say noon would overcook it.

[Meathead]

Anything over 131 will be safe. And it is already cooked. But I think the glaze is just that, a surface coating. It wont get in very far.

[Georgia rookie 903]

do know how it works if you don't try....let us know how it turned out.......good luck

[Potkettleblack]

I'm just gonna put this here:

http://sousvideresources.com/2016/07/23/sous-vide-temperature-and-time/

[mattbeagle]

Thanks Potkettleblack. I read that through and it focuses on initial cook temps and times as you would expect. I'm not sure how to pull too much from it other than 130 degrees is what to shoot for as I originally thought. Did you see something I didn't?

[Potkettleblack]

I guess I just don't see what you're trying to accomplish by sous-viding something that's already cooked and just needs a reheat with a glaze.

If it's not adequately tender out of the traditional process, I dunno what a sous step is adding.

I think it boils down to starting with the end in mind.

[shify]

Yes there are other ways to reheat a ham but I’m not sure why you don’t think there could be some benefit to reheating it sous vide. The same issues that could happen on the first cook could happen on reheat, namely outer layer can overcook/dry out before the middle is up to temp.

[mattbeagle]

Ok, let me explain. The advantage of sous vide is it is very hard to over cook. You either cook it too hot or way to long, that's about the only way. I'm thinking of the sous vide reheat not to add moisture or tenderize but rather have an easy, no rush reheat process that won't dry it out. I've done the reheats on my Blaz'n Grill in times past and it worked fine, just thinking of doing something different to keep it interesting. I still plan to use direct high heat to caramelize the glaze. You seem pretty opposed for some reason, but thank you for the feedback.

[Potkettleblack]

So, here’s the bottom line. Sous Vide is extractive. It pulls water out of food. Water makes glaze weaker. You’re gonna have to high heat to caramelized.

Sous Vide makes things tender. One hopes the ham doesn’t need tenderization, because if it needs extensive collagen breakdown, you’re gonna want it to swim for a couple days, shock, dry and paint with glaze.

[mattbeagle]

So guys I have to tell you this turned out amazing. Put the hams in at 8:30 am in 130 degree sous vide water. Pulled them at 12:30. Put them on the Blaz'n Grill set to 400 degrees and used the Apricot glaze. Left them on for 30 minutes because it was indirect heat and I wanted to double glaze. Everyone went nuts for the ham. Fed 25 people. Absolutely awesome!!

[DWCowles]

Hummm...so he was wrong? Glad it work out for you but where’s the pics?

[Potkettleblack]

Very happy that everything worked out well.
What was the actual advantage of Sous Vide other than timing, given that a 400* indirect would probably take it to 130 in about an hour?

DWC: I'm 30lbs lighter now, so I don't need your weight on my back. So get off it.

[mattbeagle]

Potkettleblack The juiciness of the ham was off the charts. Honestly all I did, and I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, was take the ham out of the netting, discard the glaze pack that came with it and left it in the wrapping it came in from the grocery store. My guess is the cryo-wrapping that the ham came in was so tight it didnt' allow for the moisture to leave the ham. But that is just a guess. When I transferred them to the disposable aluminum tray for glazing, I dumped whatever juice did come out of the ham and I estimated it to be about 2-3 oz. of juice from an approximate 10lb ham. And as you mentioned, the timing was great advantage as we had people coming with pot luck dishes and wouldn't you know it, we had a family come an hour late. With the sous vide, I didn't sweat it. Once everyone arrived I pulled them and glazed. Really recommend trying it.

[Potkettleblack]

Glad it worked. Live and learn. Or have an experiment to repeat.

[Dr ROK]

I hate dried out ham! I tried serious eats city ham version with a balsamic brown sugar glaze. Don't even take the ham out of the package, just drop it in the hot tub at 140 for 4 hours and then when you're ready to eat, glaze in oven or smoker. So simple and tasty.