# The Ham came out great.



## Chief Longwind Of The North (Apr 9, 2007)

Ok; no long winded explanations or recipes.  This one couldn't be easier.  And it was possible the best ham I ever prepared.

Ingredients:
1 Smithfield bone-in ham, about 15 lbs.
1 12-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained.
4 tbs. Grade-B pure Maple Syrup (much cheaper and whole bunch better 
         flavor)
Chunks of soaked apple wood

Combine the maple syrup and crushed pineapple in a suitable bowl of pan.
Fire up the barbecue, whatever kind you have for indirect heat cooking.  When hot, place the wood over the fire.  Place the ham over the unlit burner of your gas stove, or between the beds of charcoal in your charcoal grill.  Cover and cook with medium heat.  After 10 minutes, brush with the pineapple/maple glaze and cover again.  Continue basting with glaze every 20 minutes until the ham is hot all the way through as read with a meat thermometer (165' F.).

This ham received rave review from my whole family, even those who don't usually like ham.  The apple smoke really added a wonderful taste to the ham, while the pineapple/maple glaze served to counterpoint and ballance the flavors.  This thing was so moist and tender.  You've got to try this. 

And yep, I used the Webber Kettle with charcoal holders on either side to cook my ham in.

Serve with your favorite sides.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## CasperImproved (Apr 11, 2007)

Goodweed of the North said:
			
		

> Ok; no long winded explanations or recipes.  This one couldn't be easier.  And it was possible the best ham I ever prepared.
> 
> Ingredients:
> 1 Smithfield bone-in ham, about 15 lbs.
> ...


   Goodweed - I can not knock a great meal.... but we need you to get a smoker, or at least doing the right things on your grill to truly do smoking (real BBQ slow and low with smoke and with chunk charcoal, or even a bit higher temps that some long time smoker experts suggest (and use in commercial use).   I am probably one of the worst people to convince you as I can honestly say I have *only* smoked on the grill with some inferior fuel. But I am learning.  I have read tons of smart stuff from real BBQers, now have a smoker (I need to physically work on the assemble and to modify for best efforts), have a remote multi temp gage (both the grill surface temp, and internal food temp) with alarm, and have major leads for the right fuels.   I think that this summer I will have some actual value added posting to do. Considering how great the bunch of the folks on Discuss Cooking are, I think I will actually try to document my efforts of true BBQ.  That should say something as I have been on the Inet for years, and you guys are the first bunch of foodies I feel  I should spend time on in a real sense. I have *never* been to a public web site where *so many* folks are great people. I haven't even found one person on this site I would not like to have for a neighbor.        Casper       P.S. The fact that I haven't seen any big headed foodies here makes me happy. Not even grammar Nazis seem to exist here. Just good people.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Apr 11, 2007)

CasperImproved;
I couldn't concure more.  But for this meal, the tools fit what I was trying to accomplish.  It is difficult for me to get a fresh ham around these parts as they are rarely sold in local stores.  But I didn't want to settle for a simple baked ham either.  So I took what I knew to be a juicy and tender product, probably cured with a brine sollution, and augmented the flavor with real apple-wood, using the indirect heat method.  I also brought the flavor up by using real grade-B mpale syrup and crushed pineapple.  

The flavor imparted by the gentle smoke didn't overpower the other flavors I was trying to blend into the ham.  Yes, it wasn't a true smoked ham, but a store-purchased ham that was altered to create a great meal.

And as for the Webber, with proper and careful technique, you can obtain a true smoke/barbecue product.  I have slowly smoked whole turkeys, fish, beef roasts, even made jerky on the Webber Kettle.  You just need to use the proper amount of fuel and the right smoking woods for the flavor you are trying to get.  Adjust the vents properly to maintain the correct temperature and you have authentic, real, smoked foods.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't love to own a good smoking/barbecue rig.  But I have neither the money, or the availability of enough warm season to make it something viable.  Summer in my neck of the woods is only about three months long.  The other 9 months of the year are cold and wet, or cold and snowy.

There once was a member of a similar site as this one who's tag-line was, and I'm paraphrasing here, "The type of pot is not nearly so important as what goes into the pot".

Understanding fire science, some basic thermodynamics, how meat reacts to salt, flavorings, and heat, and a good bit of experience can allow one to make great things with less than great tools.

Would I put last Easter Sunday's ham up against a true somked ham?  That depends entirely on the contest of the competition.  For a simply great tasting meal, I'd offer it against anybody.  In a contest for authentic smoked ham, I would still make it, but would share it and eat it with freinds while we smoked the fresh ham for the judges.

And I would put my smoked turkeys up against anybody elses, no matter what kind of rig they smoked their birds on.

Seeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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