Honey Baked Ham

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a raw ham that’s just brined and baked will be a pork roast

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Truth.

Last year, I bought a "fresh ham" from my supermarket that I asked the butcher to order for me. I injected then brined for a week or so using this website as a guide. I then cold-smoked it on my kettle grill using an A-Maze-N smoke tube with apple pellets. Temp 170F. I then rested and hot smoked it in my WSM for about 3 hours at 225F. The glaze is the same as I did this year.

This year, I bought an already smoked, spiral-cut ham off of the refrigerated shelf of my store. I brought it home and unwrapped it. I placed it cut face down in a deep bbq pan, injected with a half and half solution of warm honey and pineapple juice, then smoked it on the top grate of my WSM with apple wood for about 3 hours.

Glaze. I finished both hams this way.

Remove from pan. Place on sheet pan or similar.

Wet ham with drippings. Rub outside of ham generously with sugar mixture.

1 cup sugar - 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 dash ground ginger
1 dash ground allspice

Caramelize sugars with torch.

This year's ham is not only easier, it was more uniform in taste and appearance.

I like honey baked ham sandwiches

Off to the kitchen

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My only exception was a rosemary ham, I cured it wrapped in rosemary, that was pretty good.

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I would be interested in hearing more about that.

I have friends that hunt feral hogs. I want to cure the hind quarter of a small one and see how it comes out. They are very lean, however.

It will have a different flavor than sto-bought. I took a backstrap from a sow hog I killed and grilled it for my parents. My Mom said it tasted like the pork they had on the farm growing up. Those pigs ate zero corn...They were kept in the "hog lot" next to the house, which had a bunch of oak trees. They ate whatever they could find and got slopped after each meal.

Would be interesting to see how a ham turned out.

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My Mom said it tasted like the pork they had on the farm growing up.

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Not too long ago, the pork farmers bought into the National campaign that marketed pork as “the other white meat.” They intentionally bred and raised swine that was very lean, which is partially why pork is so pale and lean now.

Farm raised pork looks almost like beef. It has a bright red color and is heavily marbled with fat. It tastes much better than commercially sourced pork.

Your mom is right.