Smoking a raw Thanksgiving ham - Worth it?

[Valdeselad]

Thinking about smoking a raw or “green” ham for Thanksgiving. In the past I’ve always bought the “pre-cooked/pre-cured” ones that just need a few hours in the oven and come with their own glaze mix, etc.

Can anyone comment on if it’s worth it? Any recipes, tips or pointers appreciated as well.

Thanks!

[Beensabu]

Smoking? How long do you think that would take?

Google says 1 hour 20 minutes per pound.

I guess if you want to start at 8am and have like "a task" that enables to you to drink while "on task", it is an excellent idea.

[mkc]

If it's truly not cured, it's going to be similar to pork butt/shoulder in flavor profile.

[gips]

Thinking about smoking a raw or “green” ham for Thanksgiving. In the past I’ve always bought the “pre-cooked/pre-cured” ones that just need a few hours in the oven and come with their own glaze mix, etc.

Can anyone comment on if it’s worth it? Any recipes, tips or pointers appreciated as well.

Thanks!

not worth it, I suggest you smoke a pre-cooked ham, I've made this foolproof recipe a number of times and love it:
https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/spiral-sliced-ham/

[Sandtrap]

Thinking about smoking a raw or “green” ham for Thanksgiving. In the past I’ve always bought the “pre-cooked/pre-cured” ones that just need a few hours in the oven and come with their own glaze mix, etc.

Can anyone comment on if it’s worth it? Any recipes, tips or pointers appreciated as well.

Thanks!

Electric smoker outside?

If raw, it will take a long time, the inside of the smoker is going to need a lot of cleaning when you're done.

Afe you planning on getting "into" smoking things with an outdoor electric smoker?

j

[Watty]

If you want to try something different you could try a Country Ham but they can be hard to find and some of the mass market ones that I have tried are not very good. They are cured differently than your typical ham. You would be lucky to find one but you might try farmers markets.

They do have a very strong and salty flavor so some people do not like them so you might try a small one in addition to your normal ham so see if you really like them.

When I was a kid my grandfather would mail us a country ham in the fall which he bought directly from a farmer who cured his own hams. When we got it we would just hang it up a cool spot in the basement for a few months until we were ready to eat it. Back before refrigeration that was the point of having a smoke house so that you could preserve meat without refrigeration.

Before it is fully cured some mold may grow on the outside of it but that is normal and you just scrape it off. Even according to the USDA that is normal and OK.

https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/What-sho ... ountry-ham

[lazydavid]

If you want to cure it first (though it may be too late for that at this point), it could definitely work. I would not smoke an un-cured ham. As others have noted, it would have a pork shoulder/roast taste that is probably not what you're looking for when you're serving ham.

I've had excellent luck, however, smoking "normal" pre-cured hams. I like to use a mix of hickory, apple, and pecan.

[Point]

If you’re having people over, it’s best to do a dry run first, see how it comes out, adjust and do the real one before the event. No reason to make the event more memorable.

[stoptothink]

If you’re having people over, it’s best to do a dry run first, see how it comes out, adjust and do the real one before the event. No reason to make the event more memorable.

We're hosting our first Thanksgiving. It's only 7 of us (us, my parents and sister) so I bought just a 7lbs. turkey breast (bone-in). I'm cooking it the crockpot, it's pretty much our only option at this point as our oven will be cooking several other things Thanksgiving morning. We'll see how that goes, but I read multiple sources online saying it will be fine. Biggest issue is that it currently (frozen) won't quite fit in the crockpot; hopefully it will after defrosting or I may have to cut it up.

FWIW, a few years ago I cooked an entire full-size turkey in the pressure cooker (we had an amazing 14qt pressure cooker that unfortunately kicked the bucket earlier this year) and my food snob/wannabe chef stepfather was noticeably angry that it came out so good and everybody preferred it over his brined and smoked turkey.

[Watty]

We're hosting our first Thanksgiving. It's only 7 of us (us, my parents and sister) so I bought just a 7lbs. turkey breast (bone-in). I'm cooking it the crockpot, it's pretty much our only option at this point as our oven will be cooking several other things Thanksgiving morning.

If you have a BBQ grill you could also use that. We have used our propane BBQ set on low to keep other hot foods warm while other food was being cooked.

[stoptothink]

We're hosting our first Thanksgiving. It's only 7 of us (us, my parents and sister) so I bought just a 7lbs. turkey breast (bone-in). I'm cooking it the crockpot, it's pretty much our only option at this point as our oven will be cooking several other things Thanksgiving morning.

If you have a BBQ grill you could also use that. We have used our propane BBQ set on low to keep other hot foods warm while other food was being cooked.

Nope. We are absolutely not foodies and are very minimalist when it comes to food preparing stuff. We have an oven and a crockpot. I bet it turns out fine.

[Broken Man 1999]

I suffer thru Thanksgiving, eating my entire year's ration of turkey. Not a fan of turkey. So I get ham on Christmas dinner. Other meats are also available for those who don't like ham.

It is tough to beat (and afford) a Honey Baked ham, but they are really good. Publix supermarkets also sell a spiral-cut ham (with glazes if wanted). Not much difference in the hams, other than the price being cheaper at Publix.

We grill and have shrimp boils, but the time required for smoking meats never appealed to us, despite the tasty results.

For Thanksgiving we have deep-fried a turkey in peanut oil a few times. Seems today everyone wants to visit with each other instead of spending a lot of time over a grill or whatever.

Broken Man 1999

[lthenderson]

Thinking about smoking a raw or “green” ham for Thanksgiving. In the past I’ve always bought the “pre-cooked/pre-cured” ones that just need a few hours in the oven and come with their own glaze mix, etc.

Can anyone comment on if it’s worth it? Any recipes, tips or pointers appreciated as well.

Thanks!

It really depends on your smoker but I have a propane one. Smoking a ham can be done as quickly as your inside oven or can take all day. My smoker can be adjust to 200F to 400F degrees. It really is a function of how much smoke flavor you want to add to the meat. The longer it takes to reach the correct done temperature means more of that smoky flavor.

In my opinion, smoked meats ALWAYS taste better after they have cooled to room temperature and have been reheated as desired. As a result, I never smoke anything the day of the eating. In fact, I smoked two turkeys over a week ago and the meat is in my freezer waiting for maybe tomorrow evening when I bring it out to thaw and will reheat on Thanksgiving day.

For me, the biggest drawback to smoking isn't necessarily the time to actually smoke something but the setup and tear down that goes on either side. To smoke something, I soak woodchips the day before. I have to get the smoker out from where it was stored and hook it up to my gas grill propane tank. I have to get a set of crescent nosed pliers from the garage to handle the very hot woodchip tray when I freshen the chips periodically, get another bucket of water to deposit the spent chip coals in a manner where they don't catch everything on fire. Once the meat is smoking and the temperature is where I want it, I simply just go about doing other things around the house and then check things briefly once an hour to put new wood chips in and check the meat temp if nearing done. Teardown required cleaning the grates for the next use and putting everything back.

For recipes, I literally just vary the woodchips. I personally like cherry or apple but do like mesquite for certain things. I have a large box smoker with three racks that can do three turkeys at once. Since smoked meat freezes very well, whenever I smoke something, I buy enough meat to fill up the entire smoker and freeze what we aren't planning on eating for a later date. We often buy whole pork tenderloins, chickens or salmon to fill up the rest of the smoker.

[8foot7]

Thinking about smoking a raw or “green” ham for Thanksgiving.

A cigar might be easier.

[Valdeselad]

Thinking about smoking a raw or “green” ham for Thanksgiving. In the past I’ve always bought the “pre-cooked/pre-cured” ones that just need a few hours in the oven and come with their own glaze mix, etc.

Can anyone comment on if it’s worth it? Any recipes, tips or pointers appreciated as well.

Thanks!

not worth it, I suggest you smoke a pre-cooked ham, I've made this foolproof recipe a number of times and love it:
https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/spiral-sliced-ham/

Thank you!!

[andypanda]

How To Smoke A Ham

1. Build a smokehouse.

Hey, my grandparents had smokehouses and they made great hams.