Dr. Pepper smoked ham - Whiskey style!

My wife bought a big 19.5 pound ham for me to smoke for Easter. Of all the things I have smoked over the years, I have never smoked a ham. Luckily I know where to find out how, The BBQ Brethren forum did not let me down. I read several posts about what to inject with, what to glaze, how much smoke, how long, ect. Let me digress, my wife called me last Wednesday and asked if I wanted her to order a "Dr Pepper Ham" from the butcher for Easter. She said she had tasted a sample and it was very good. Baahhhh! I ain't paying 50.00 for a ham that someone else smoked. NO WAY! So she bought a ham and I agreed to make it a Dr Pepper ham. There are a couple recipes on the net about Dr Pepper ham glaze so I atleast had a starting point. After reading the instructions for Dr. Chicken's Double smoked ham I was ready to start concocting. Here is what I came up with:

First, get a big ham! Try to find one that isn't spiral sliced. In subsequent attempts, I tried one that was sliced and it was good, but it was dryer and not nearly as tasty as the non-sliced version. Shoot it up with the injector as early as you can, leave the plastic wrap on it, put it in a foil pan, shoot it up and put it in the fridge. Turn it over a couple times, like every 6 hours. All that good juice will be in the plastic and will soak in more. 

I smoked mine at 225 degree untill it reached 140 degrees internal temp, it climbed a little after sitting for an hour. Make sure you leave enough time to let it rest when you pull it. I smoked mine on the smoker rack, but then moved it to a foil pan the last hour when I started glazing it. Then I just tightly foiled the pan when I took it off and let it rest.

This is great on biscuits and egg rolls the next day. Not the Chinese kind of egg rolls, the yellow rolls they sell at Win-Dixie deli. 

Injector Recipe
1 cup of Aunt Jamima Butter flavor syrup
1 cup Dr. Pepper
1/4 cup bourbon, George Dickel at my house.
1/4 cup orange juice, no pulp
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat to combine. No need to boil, just get it warm and mix it well. Allow to cool and inject with a large kitchen injector needle. 

Glaze Recipe
1 cup of Dr. Pepper
1.5 cups of light brown sugar
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/2 cup Bourbon
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1/4 cup of honey
2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar
1-2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons of instant coffee granules (or 1/2 cup of strong coffee) 
6-8 whole cloves
2-3 stick of cinnamon

Combine in a sauce pan, bring to a boil, and simmer till thickened to a syrupy consistency. Glaze the ham in the last hour of cooking, or even when it's removed from the smoker to allow to rest. 

Hog Apple Beans - These are the best baked beans!

I have made these a few times, but I changed it up just a little. I had apples, not apple pie filling, so I used two apples and fried them with butter, sugar and cinnamon. I didn't have Blue's Hog sauce, so I used some homemade sweet BBQ sauce. Blue's Hog sauce is very sweet, so any sweet sauce would be good. I don't care for green pepper, or should I say it doesn't care for me. Either way, I left it out. I used about 1/2 pound of bacon and 1/2 pound of HOT breakfast sausage. That's a full pound less meat than the recipe calls for, but I wanted these beans as a side, not a meal. 

These are an awesome side to add to any BBQ. 


Here is the original that can be found all over the internet. 

Keri's Hog-Apple BBQ Baked Beans

3 or 4 slices bacon, diced
2 (27 oz) cans Bush's Baked Beans
1/2 c. Blues Hog BBQ Sauce (or other sweet-spicy favorite)
1 lb. smoked leftover smoked pork or beef, more or less,
or 1 lb crumbled cooked pork sausage (a maple flavor pork breakfast
sausage is good)
1 (15oz) can apple pie filling, pieces somewhat chopped up
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. Mustard (prepared)
1 tsp chipotle or cayenne powder (optional, to taste*)
1 tsp Blues Hog barbecue rub (or your favorite bbq rub)

Brown bacon, and saute onion and green pepper in bacon grease.
Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake at 325 F for 1 hour, or simmer
on stovetop in large pot for 30 minutes if you don't have time
to do them in the oven. Serves 12.

This recipe began life as APPLE PIE BAKED BEANS from somewhere
on the web, but I think I've made enough changes to it now to
claim it as my own. This is my standard for baked beans anymore.
Jack's Old South does something similar to this, but I understand
that they use peach pie filling instead.

*This is a rather spicy recipe due to the chipotle/cayenne powder.
Feel free to leave it out if you'll be feeding those who prefer
a less spicy taste.

Recipe created by Keri C, of Tulsa, OK

Slaws I've known...

Cole Slaw, Vinegar Slaw, Mustard Slaw, Red Slaw... I love them all.

Here are a few of my favorite slaw recipes, saving the best for last...

Southern Cole Slaw - on the side or on top of a BBQ sammich.

• 1/2 head green cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 large carrot, finely shredded
• 1/2 cup best-quality mayonnaise (Bama Mayo)
• 1/4 cup of buttermilk 
• 1 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
• 1 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoons celery salt
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix together and chill before serving. 


Vinegar Slaw

• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds

Combine in a non-reactive sauce pan and heat till sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool completely before mixing with cabbage.

• 1 medium cabbage (about 1 1/4 pounds), thinly sliced
• 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced

Combine with sauce from above and refrigerate for 1 hour to 1 day. 


Spicy Mustard Slaw - Great on top of a grilled brat or grilled beef sausage with BBQ sauce.

• 1/2 head green cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 large carrot, finely shredded
• 1/2 of an onion, finely shredded
• 1/2 cup Spicy Brown Mustard
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of hot sauce 
• 1 teaspoons celery salt
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix together and serve. Not necessary to chill, but good either way. 


Sarge's Hot Slaw - This is my take a slaw I first tried at Sarge's Steakhouse.

• 1 granny smith apple, chopped small
• 1 small bell pepper chopped fine
• 2 jalapeno peppers chopped fine
• 1 bag of coleslaw cabbage/carrots mix
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper 
• Mayo - as much as is needed, 1/2 cup or so.
• Salt and black pepper

Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce

Carolina Vinegar  Sauce

This sauce started as a recipe from the BBQ Bible that I have tweaked till I have one that suits me. I keep a gallon of this made up in the fridge at all times. I use it to add to other sauces or for basting or just a good bbq sauce for pulled pork.

2 1/2 Cups of White Vinegar (or apple cider vinegar if you like it)

1/2 Cup of Thick BBQ sauce (use spicy sauce if you like hot)

1/2 cup of water

2 tablespoons of brown sugar (white sugar works too)

4 teaspoons of salt

4 teaspoons of Red pepper flakes (like you put on pizza)

1 to 2 tablespoons of hot sauce (Crystal or Tabasco or your favorite)

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon of white pepper

1 teaspoon of dry rub (still good without this)

1 to 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper

You can add store bought BBQ sauce a little at a time if the vinegar is too much for you or if it is too spicy for your taste.

Mix all this together is a big jar or jug and shake it till the salt dissolves.

You can brush this on a little during the last hour of smoking. I just put a bowl of it on the table and spoon a little over my smoked pork.

The Bread. Taken from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook

This is not incredibly healthy, but it is incredibly good! 

• 1 loaf French Bread, Split Lengthwise
• 2 sticks Regular (salted) Butter, Softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread one stick of softened butter on each half of the loaf.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until butter is melted and starting to soak into the bread.

Crank on broiler and broil bread for 3 to 5 minutes, watching the whole time. Remove when butter has started to brown and blacken. Don't under-broil it! The flavor really kicks in when the butter's color changes.

Slice into strips and serve immediately.

Jambalaya with Chicken and Sausage

There’s lots of different ways to make jambalaya, with chicken and sausage, or shrimp, or ham, or whatever meat you have handy. Wild Turkey breast and smoked sausage is a good combo. For me Jambalaya must have tomatoes in it. This is sometimes called Red Jambalaya and some don’t consider it the original. I say make it like you like it.

Here is my recipe for chicken and sausage jambalaya. If you want to use wild turkey, you are going to have to make considerable changes when it comes to cooking the turkey. The best bet is to put the turkey in a crock pot and cook till tender. Then add the turkey to the jambalaya mix when you add the rice.

• 1 lb. of boneless raw chicken, cubed; or 1 pound of cooked and cubed wild turkey breast.
• 1 lb. of smoked sausage. I use Conecuh brand smoked sausage.
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 2-3 large tomatoes, chopped
• 5 cups of chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons of Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked
• 5 strips of bacon

In a large frying pan, fry the bacon and save the grease. Chop bacon.

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, add ½ the bacon grease and over high heat, sauté the pepper, onion, celery and garlic for 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add tomatoes, bay leaves, and chopped bacon.

In the frying pan, use the other half of the bacon grease to brown the chicken, sprinkling with Tony Chachere's seasoning. Once browned, add chicken to the stock pot.

In the frying pan, brown the sliced smoked sausage. Depending on the brand of sausage and how long you cook it, you may need to drain the excess grease away before adding the sausage to the stock pot. I generally just use a slotted spoon to move the browned sausage. Add browned sausage to the stock pot.

Add 2 cups of the stock and 2 tablespoons of the Creole seasoning. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining 2 cups of stock, check seasonings, and stir in the rice, combining thoroughly. Cook over low-medium heat for about 20-25 minutes, keeping the pot just bubbling until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid. 

How “wet” or “dry” you like your jambalaya is a personal preference. I like mine a little on the wet side, so that is what I end up with using this recipe. If the mix is too wet after the rice has become tender, turn the heat down to low and let the sauce thicken up a bit, with the pot uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 10 more minutes. Stir thoroughly to combine all ingredients. 

Serve with fresh French bread or “The Bread”.