Smoked Spring Ham

Arthur Aguirre is back to show off his mad grillin’ skills with something I have always wanted to do: smoke a spring ham.  My cousin does this every year for Thanksgiving and usually Easter, but I’ve never done it personally.  I’ll hand it off to Arthur for the rest of the write up for this smoked spring ham

***Editor’s Note ~ Arthur has started his own blog and I’m more than happy to promote his on mine.  His new site is called MajorLeagueGrilling.com***

To see our latest ham recipe click here to see Grilled Pineapple Rum Ham

I found a great deal on a ham at the grocery store the other day, $1.19/lb for a 8lb-butt portion:

Its deals like this that let me try new things on the grill and not feel guilty about screwing up. Nonetheless, I wanted to smoke this cured ham with a sweet, salty and spicy sauce. So, I opened up my pantry and picked out ingredients that fit this craving I had…here is what I came up with:

Basting Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup apple juice
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp apple pie spice
½ tsp white pepper
¼ tsp jalapeno powder
1 cinnamon stick

This basting sauce sounds too good to screw up.

Basting Instructions:

1. Preheat stove for medium-low heat.
2. Mix all ingredients in sauce pan and place on stove.
3. Take off the stove once all the ingredients are blended.

After the basting sauce is ready, I prepare my Smokenator with apple wood and peach wood. However, I don’t fill the water pan because I’m trying to attain a higher temperature (325-350 degree range), so water is not needed to keep the temps down. The kettle vents are enough to maintain the desired temperature. Therefore, the bottom vents on the kettle are open halfway and the lid vents are wide open. In addition, the lid vents are always placed on the opposite side of the heat source so the smoke can travel over the meat and out the vents.

If I was doing this without a Smokenator, I would set up indirect heat. Make sure to rotate the ham often to get an even distribution of heat.

Smoked Spring Ham Grilling Instructions

One important note to mention…make sure to either place a foil pan underneath the grate directly below the ham or put the ham in a foil pan. Basting can make a large mess in your grill, use a foil pan to make clean up easy:

When the grill reaches the desired temp, I placed the ham flat side down. I even place the sauce on the grill to absorb some smoke while reducing it at the same time:

The plan is to baste the ham every 30 minutes until it’s done. This way, I will add smoke and the sauce will add flavor and a dark crusty texture. I’m smoking the ham until it reaches 145 degrees. Although, the ham is already cooked because it has been cured, I’m basically just warming it up and rendering off the fat which will make the ham melt in my mouth.

Here is the ham after the first 30 minutes:

At the one hour mark I baste the ham again and add more briquettes. The ham is showing some excellent color:

After one and a half hours:

I add the last batch of briquettes to the fire while the ham is looking delicious at two hours:

Finally, at two and a half hours, the internal temp reaches 147 degrees. I give it one more basting before removing it from the grill:

I let the ham rest for 15 minutes with a foil tent.

This ham was outstanding and so easy to do. The apple flavors are such a good complement to the ham, not much I would change there. I’ll have leftovers, which is great because I wanted some to slice in my new meat slicer:

To do this, however, it is best to chill the meat before I slice it. Can’t wait!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave it below or shoot me an email and I will forward it on to Arthur.

If you are interested in other pork recipes, click here.

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Arthur Aguirre

Major League Grilling’s founder, Arthur Aguirre, is a BBQ enthusiast with a passion to cook anything on the grill. Before reaching the level of pitmaster, Arthur spent years of hopelessly under cooking and overcooking various cuts of succulent meats. With the help of internet forums such as the BBQ Brethren, Char-Broil, and the experts from the Grillin' Fools, Arthur’s grilling exploits soon followed.

Latest posts by Arthur Aguirre (see all)

• Smoked Spring Ham - August 10, 2011
• Blueberry Muffin Fatty - April 6, 2011
• Slinger Fatty - February 19, 2011

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