salt cured ham

Bronson,

I have never smoked a country ham after it was originally smoked and cured. The cure and smoke takes out a large amount of the natural moisture in the ham. I always hydrate the ham back to a more natural moisture content by soaking it in water at least 24 hours and changing the water twice a day. I have hydrated a ham up to two days and nights. I then boil the ham to a internal temperature of 160 degrees. See below about scoring it.

My Mother used to boil the ham in a lard can for 40 minutes and then place the can into alternate layers of newspaper and blankets and leave it for 24 hours. After removing it from the blanket and quilt bundle she would skin it, trim all but 1/2 inch of the fat, cover it with brown sugar and cloves and bake it about 10 minutes until it was well scored.

I would never re-smoke a cured ham.

The Best with it!

smokemullet

Bronson,

You might check out www.fabulousfoods.com and then do a search for twice smoked ham. There is probably a bunch of information, but I do know that there is a recipe (#1) for Famous Dave Anderson's twice smoked orgasmic ham. See if it gives you any ideas.

Best wishes with your project,

Bill

Most folks smoke already cooked or semicooked hams to reduce the liquid and add a touch of smoke.

Got to agree with smoke mullet"that would be the last thing I'd do".

I've only had my CS about 4 weeks, but one of the first things I tried was a country ham (because I cure about 30 of them a year and I've always wanted to try to smoke one) Soaked ham 2 days in 5 gal. bucket, changing water twice. Then smoked about 20 hrs @225 degrees. 3 chunks of cookshack sized hickory. When I took the ham out I couldn't hardly slice it because the meat was falling apart. I thought it was somewhat dry but my wife who has been subjected to lots of country ham over the years thought it was good. Anyway mixed up some real maple syrup(because the ham ol'timers say that it goes well with c-ham) butter,sweet/hot mustard and water and mixed itin a spray bottle and sort of misted the shredded/sliced ham until it was moist enough for me. Took it to Thanksgiving dinner where it recieved rave reviews by all family members who have eated Country ham for many years. Smoke was very subtle. I will cook my next ham in my Cs becuase it was really easier than the oven. Shouldn't have cooked ham as long as I did, and because my WSM and polders are at lake place didn't have thermomators to monitor.

Thanks for the info and I will smoke one for the holidays.

Bronson, I should add I don't really know what temp to go for. The ham above was 180 when I took it out. I'm smoking one this week and will try 160. Also I wished I had added some more wood over time.

We serve twice smoked country hams at our restaurant. We sok them overnight, then smoke tham at 225 until we reach an internal temp of 150, then let ham sit until internal temp reaches 160. Very, very good!

I'm a little late with my post but....
I cooked about 12 country hams last month.
here is a link to a post of mine last year.
I now take them only up to 150, the carry over takes it up a few more deg. let it cool for a while and debone while it's warm. chill and slice.
http://forum.cookshackamerica.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cg...;f=4;t=000181#000000

ok yall i just received a country ham and was thinking it might be easier to cook in my 008. all ideas pro and con would be greatly appreciated. thanks jan

Here's a question, has anyone ever cured a fresh ham, and, if so, what's the process?
Gib