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I am not a stranger to the find feature.... I need a little help with hams. My boss recently gave me 2 half "cured" hams. He had these processed and wanted me to smoke one for him and keep the other. From what I have found, I was going to cross hatch score it and rub with mustard and brown sugar. Inject, cook time, internal temp???? These are where I am lost. It is not considered a country style ham because it is not smoked yet, right???? Please let me know because I need to know to start these at 5am or noon to be done for dinner tomorrow. Thanks for the help.
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You've lost me on this one because I'm not really sure what you have.

A country ham is a very specific item, and while I guess all country hams are smoked, not all smoked hams are country. Country hams are also salt and/or sugar cured. Their density would not allow you to inject I don't think, and they would not respond well to cooking whole as you describe either......I don't think. I've only had country ham sliced and fried, but I'll have to think about this a bit. Hmmmmmmm..... I don't know, but anyway, you wouldn't rub a country ham with mustard, brown sugar, or anything for that matter. Maybe soak it to remove some salt, then slice and fry.

Anyway, sorry to raise more questions than answers. I just didn't get your description. I think you may have a fresh ham. Light pink, Pale golden brown on the outside, bone in the middle. If so, proceed as per your plans, possibly without the injection as this may add too much salt. Smoke at 200-225* for a couple of hours. Get it up to about 125* internal, then pull and coat with rub mixture. I'd finish in the house oven because I don't think the environment of the CS would be good for the crust.
After reading more I have decided that these are fresh cured hams like todd said. I am not that into hams, just couldn't pass up some fresh/local meat. I have done lots of diff meat in my 08, but these are a 1st. I plan on putting them on around 9am. 225* with about 1 oz of hickory. Not sure how long it will take (its done when its done, I know) but I can wrap and hold in the cooler if needed. Just trying to impress the in-laws tonight for dinner. They are part of the reason that I have a cookshack. Everyone in my family chipped in a couple of years ago and got it for my bday. I always love to hear "this is some of the best meat I've ever had".... I don't EVER tell anyone what little effort went into keeping a consistant temp throuhout my cook. Thanks again for the great forum. If you look I don't have many posts.....Because I always see Tom say "use the find feature" He is right. It works
At 225, it will only take a few hours. from the descriptions, as they are "cured" then they ready to eat, but take them to an internal temp of 140 or so (you just want to bring them up to food safe temps).

When we reheat hams (fully cooked, 2nd smoke, etc) that's all we do, is basically warm them up to a safe temp.

The label HAS to be labeled a specific way to differentiate what it is, do you still have it, what all does it say?

A country ham, like Todd said would be salty and you'd actually need to soak it first to all some of the salt to be removed. It would be hard as a rock basically.

Here are the USDA guidelines on HAM labeling:
quote:
Definition
Hams may be fresh, cured, or cured-and-smoked. Ham is the cured leg of pork. Fresh ham is an uncured leg of pork. Fresh ham will bear the term "fresh" as part of the product name and is an indication that the product is not cured. "Turkey" ham is a ready-to-eat product made from cured thigh meat of turkey. The term "turkey ham" is always followed by the statement "cured turkey thigh meat."

The usual color for cured ham is deep rose or pink; fresh ham (which is not cured) has the pale pink or beige color of a fresh pork roast; country hams and prosciutto (which are dry cured) range from pink to a mahogany color.

Hams are either ready to eat or not. Ready-to-eat hams include prosciutto and cooked hams; they can be eaten right out of the package. Fresh hams and hams that are only trichinae treated (which may include heating, freezing, or curing in the plant) must be cooked by the consumer before eating. Hams that must be cooked will bear cooking instructions and safe handling instructions.

Hams that are not ready to eat, but have the appearance of ready-to-eat products, will bear a prominent statement on the principal display panel indicating the product needs cooking, e.g., "cook thoroughly." In addition, the label must bear cooking directions.
The label says "half cured ham". They were done by a local butcher. They are from a hog that my boss raised for slaughter.

Got tied up this morning and couldn't get the ham in until noon. We are planning on eating at 5pm. Hoping that I won't have to pull it from the 08 and put it in a hot oven to finish up on time. I only ended up putting one of the halves in so I could play with the other tomorrow.

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