Rob's Rants

Ham

This year for Easter I decided to make a ham and infuse it with some extra flavor by smoking it myself. So I searched my local supermarket for a ham that wasn’t already smoked, which is harder to find then you might imagine. Perhaps if I had thought about this more than one week in advance I could have found a true fresh ham, but I settled for a pre-cooked and spiral-sliced unsmoked ham.

Basically, I followed a simple recipe:

1. Dry ham for four hours at 120° F in smoker.
2. Smoke with maple smoke for four hours at 140°.
3. Let rest overnight so smoke flavor can mellow.
4. Apply maple syrup and mustard base with seasoned salt rub. Wrap in aluminum foil, add cider vinegar and brown sugar solution to foil pouch, seal,  and  and roast at 350° F in oven for four hours.
5. When temp reaches 145° F, remove from oven and glaze with a seasoned brown sugar glaze.
6. Place in hot 450° F oven for 10 minutes until glaze darkens and caramelizes.
7. Pour off drippings, reduce, and thicken with cornstarch slurry.

The ham had a decent flavor, but I was totally disappointed in the Bradley maple bisquettes and the flavor of the smoke they produced. From the first wisps escaping the cabinet, something smelled wrong. The smoke was acrid and, well, smelled a little like an ashtray. After a few minutes it seemed to get better, but when the ham came out the crust tasted like an ashtray too. I was pissed. Maple was supposed to be a more mellow flavor than hickory, but in this case it was harsh.

I tried to salvage the ham and wrapped it plastic with another splash of brown sugar and vinegar. I think that helped a little. The inside of the ham had a mellow smoky flavor, but the exterior crust was bitter.

After a day resting in the refrigerator things got a little better. And glazing the exterior helped even more.

In the end, I’d call this a mixed success. I think the idea was sound and smoking the ham clearly added flavor, but using maple was the wrong choice. So lesson learned. I’ve always used hickory for just about everything, with a little mesquite for chicken and some beef. And I think I’ll stick to those woods.

My bottom-line advice: avoid the maple bisquettes in the Bradley Smoker.