Holiday Ham

Store-bought hams are fine. They are tasty, salty, and most importantly a consistent, hard-to-mess-up component of a traditional holiday meal.

However, like most things in life, doing it yourself pays serious dividends.

First, you can control the quality (and quantity) of meat by establishing a relationship with a local butcher and knowing where it came from. Second, you can control the flavors that are integrated into the salt-based brine, the first and arguably most important step in converting a fresh ham into a holiday ham^[1], and one that takes a week or more to complete. And third, you have control over the smoke and the glaze, the finishing touches which deliver that multi-layered, homemade taste that is hard to replicate at a commercial scale.

If you are looking for another “Grandpa Skill” to add to your repertoire, this is a good one to have. Look no further than the humble holiday ham.

Special Equipment
Large, non-reactive container (large enough to hold the ham with space for the brine)
Digital Scale
Digital Thermometer
Smoking Capability (we just use wood chops and tinfoil on a regular propane grill – nothing fancy)

Ingredients
One, 12- to 15-pound fresh ham (ideally with skin and aitch bone removed, but not totally required)

For the brine:
4 liters of water
350 grams kosher salt
350 grams dark brown sugar
40 grams pink salt

For the glaze:
1 ½ packed cups dark brown sugar
¾ cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced garlic

Preparation

1. Add dry brine ingredients to a large non-reactive pot. Add water. Stir to dissolve. Add ham and weigh it down with a plate or large bowl to keep it submerged for about a week (half a day per pound of soak time).
2. After the soak time, about a week later, remove the ham, pat it down with paper towels, and let it rest uncovered in the fridge overnight to allow the brine to fully distribute.
3. The next day, fire up your grill, prep your smoke, and “hot smoke” the ham, ideally at the 200-300 degrees F range, and ideally with indirect heat, or by setting the ham on the upper rack of your grill (if you have one). Expect this to take a few hours to reach the desired internal temperature.
4. Mix up the glaze and stir until smooth. If you don’t have Dijon, regular mustard works just fine, but Dijon is the best (we’ve tried both). Brush the ham with the glaze once, heavily, or 2-3 times if desired.
5. Smoke ham until it reached internal temperature of 155 degrees F.
6. Remove ham from the smoker, let sit, add additional glaze if desired (we normally discard a fair amount to be honest). Eat warm, or allow to cool and/or refrigerate if desired cold.

For those of you who are visual learners, below is the same preparation process with pictures.

Add dry brine ingredients to a large non-reactive pot. Add water. Stir to dissolve. Add ham and weigh it down with a plate or large bowl to keep it submerged for about a week (half a day per pound of soak time).

After the soak time, about a week later, remove the ham, pat it down with paper towels, and let it rest uncovered in the fridge overnight to allow the brine to fully distribute.

The next day, fire up your grill, prep your smoke, and “hot smoke” the ham, ideally at the 200-300 degrees F range, and ideally with indirect heat, or by setting the ham on the upper rack of your grill (if you have one).

We don’t use anything fancy – just a propane grill, indirect heat, with wood ships soaked for an hour and packed into aluminum foil (with holes poked for ventilation) and placed directly onto the burners.

Expect this to take a few hours to reach the desired internal temperature.

Smoke ham until it reached internal temperature of 155 degrees F.

Mix up the glaze and stir until smooth. If you don’t have Dijon, regular mustard works just fine, but Dijon is the best (we’ve tried both). Brush the ham with the glaze once, heavily, or 2-3 times if desired.

Remove ham from the smoker, let sit, add additional glaze if desired (we normally discard a fair amount to be honest). Eat warm, or allow to cool and/or refrigerate if desired cold.

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   Michael Ruhlman, Charcuterie ↑