Tuesday, February 18, 2014

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. 



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