Twice Smoked Honey Ham with Bourbon Glaze
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 3-4 hrs
Yield: Feeds 15-20 people
Ingredients - Ham
1 10-12 pound Smoked Bone-In Spiral Cut Ham
Meat Church Honey Hog BBQ Rub - to taste
Ingredients - Honey Bourbon Glaze
3/4 cup of bourbon
1 cup of honey
1/2 cup of orange marmalade
1/4 cup of molasses
One Good Smoke Deserves Another
With Easter came another traditional family party for my family to host. We have hosted this party for 13 years now and with it coming up I honestly did not think about BBQ for it at all. Before you hate on that, it was really two main reasons for it. First, having the party for that long, we have become very settled when it comes to food. Secondly, with a party that starts around, 11 am following a family trip to church starting at 9:30 am, time to cook just didn't seem all that feasible.
Despite my initial thoughts on this, my wife's phone began to light up with texts from her family requesting a repeat of the ham from Christmas. While I like the fact that it is appreciated, I also do not like to back down from a challenge. So I decided that I better give them what they want!
While on the surface this is exactly the same cook I performed months ago, two things have changed. One is that I have considerably more experience. The second is that this one will be significantly more challenging. The nice thing about the Christmas cook is there was no real schedule. I could adhere to that golden rule of BBQ by saying it is done when it is done. Now, however, it didn't really matter when it was done, as long as it was done by about 9:15 am.
So the plan was set, I would wake up early and start the cook. Hopefully, I would finish just around 9 am when I would place the ham in a pre-warmed cooler. Then when the family returns from church, hopefully, it would still be ready to go. Additionally, I needed to tend to a couple other tasks during this cook. I needed to make deviled eggs. I also needed to hide about 200 plastic easter eggs in the house prior to my son waking up.
The night before I prepped what I could and set my alarm for 4 am. This was the first time I was reconsidering the whole thing. 4 am came way too early. I reluctantly got out of bed and began my cook.
Prioritizing things I started a pot of coffee and then got my ham out of the refrigerator. I wasted no time in generously rubbing it with Meat Church's Honey Hog BBQ Rub and covered it with foil to rest on the counter. Already two cups of coffee down and still dark outside it was time to light the charcoal.
I have to admit, despite my hatred of getting out of bed that early, sitting out there watching the chimney flare up in the darkness was pretty phenomenal. Soon, the cooker was holding a solid 250 with white smoke from the wood coming out. It was time to put the ham in the cooker.
Now during a normal cook, this would be the ideal time to take a break. However, the ham being on the grill only meant I had to hide 200 eggs throughout the house. An hour later, after my inner Easter bunny was completely exhausted, the cook was still going strong.
So it was on to early morning job number 3, making deviled eggs. The eggs were already hardboiled and in reality, I never actually fill the egg halves until just before people arrive, so this was pretty easy. Midway through popping the yokes out of the split eggs, I noticed my temp was sliding down a little. I added some more charcoal to the fire, closed up the kettle and proceeded to finish my eggs.
The sun was just starting to rise and everything was complete except the ham. So I sat back with my coffee and just enjoyed the smell from the BBQ. This was my calm before the storm. Very quickly this morning would turn upside down in a whirlwind of last minute cleaning and getting ready. But now, it was just me, my coffee and my weber churning out a tendril of white smoke.
From that point on it really was a whirlwind. The ham had gotten to right around 140 so I opened up the kettle and brushed on my honey bourbon glaze. The ham was looking amazing!
Before I even had time to realize it, the kids were clean and dressed for the party and the iGrill was telling me the ham was done. I took the ham off the grill and quickly covered it with foil. Now was the moment of truth, would the ham last in the pre-heated cooler long enough to enjoy?
An hour and a half later we were back home and the house was filling up with people. We still had about 20 minutes before we ate so I decided to preheat the oven to 200 and set the ham in there. After opening the cooler, I realized I really didn't have to. The cooler kept it very warm.
Once the ham was served along with a thousand other dishes. The family lined up and filed through the kitchen filling their plates. Now there was certainly no shortage of food. We shipped people off with left-overs and had our own fridge filled with them for a week. But the ham? That disappeared almost immediately. It was almost cartoonish where I set it out and a second later I see only the bone there still spinning.
The ham was great. Granted, waking up that early is a steep price to pay. This was my second time with this cook but it was a different situation with different challenges. In the end, the results were the same, great food shared with the people close to us. I can hear Mikey's voice echoing in my head saying "No one invites people over for Thanksgiving, they invite them for Thanksgiving dinner". Food is a centric piece of our family life and our social life. Today was not about cooking the best ever, it was about simply cooking and sharing that with family. It is an experience I couldn't have had a year ago and am thankful I can now!
Until next post, remember kids.....CHUNKS not chips!
Directions
Prep - Ham:
Remove ham from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
Season with Meat Church Honey Hog BBQ Rub on all sides ensuring to rub into all spiral cuts.
Set up cooker for 2-zone cooking.
Once the cooker is at 250 degrees, add several chunks of cherry wood to the charcoal.
Prep - Glaze:
Combine bourbon, honey, molasses, and orange marmalade in a small saucepan.
Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Prep - Ham:
Remove ham from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
Season with Meat Church Honey Hog BBQ Rub on all sides ensuring to rub into all spiral cuts.
Set up cooker for 2-zone cooking.
Once the cooker is at 250 degrees, add several chunks of cherry wood to the charcoal.
Grill:
Place ham on the indirect side of the cooker with the last cut laying flat on the grate.
Let cook while maintaining a cooker temperature of 250 degrees.
Once the ham's internal temperature reaches 140 degrees, baste the ham with the honey bourbon glaze.
Continue to cook until the internal temperature hits 155 degrees.
Remove from grill and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
