Bowers Farm Marinated Smoked Fresh Ham
I created this recipe in
hopes that the pastured fresh ham would turn out tender with a nice wood smoked
flavor, not the traditional ham we all think of as, well, ‘ham’. This recipe is just ‘food for thought,’- feel
free to create your own using this as a guide.
Or not.
Ingredients:
1) 1 cup Water
2) 2 tbsp Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (with
Mother)
3) 3 tbsp Peach wine (or any white/fruit wine to
your liking)
4) 2 tsp organic garlic granules (or more! We
LOVE garlic!)
5) 1 tsp organic onion powder
6) 2 tsp organic sea salt (We use RealSalt by
7) A few twists of fresh ground pepper
3-4 lb Bowers Farm Fresh Ham
Roast
Apple/Cherry wood,
Hickory/Oak wood chips (whatever you like) soaked for at least 4 hrs prior to
smoking. Larger wood chunks should be
soaked over-night. I find that no matter what the bag says, ‘the longer the
soak, the better the smoke.’
Thaw Bowers Farm Fresh Ham
roast completely in refrigerator-this may take at least two days.
In a bowl or 2-cup measure,
whisk ingredients 1-7 thoroughly.
Place thawed roast in a
sealable glass dish or 2 gallon zip-lock bag and pour in marinade mixture. Spoon/mush it around a bit to get the
marinade into all the nooks and crannies.
Place dish/bag in
refrigerator and let marinate for 24-48 hrs, turning meat/bag at least once
every 8 hrs, or when you think about it.
Time to take the meat out of
the ‘fridge and fire up that smoker! Rinse meat under luke-warm water and pat
dry with paper towel. That’s
important because smoke doesn’t work well with wet meat. Let meat get close to room temperature while
the smoker gets to about a 200°F temperature.
Currently we use a Brinkman gas smoker, so I really can’t tell you about
any other smoker, sorry.
We aren’t experts in
smoking, so I’ll just tell you what we did.
Now, Bowers Farm Fresh Ham Roasts aren’t usually trimmed of too much
fat. If the roast looks lean and there’s
a lot of fat around the roast, trim some
of the fat and lay it across the top of the roast when you put it in the
smoker. Yeah!! (Better than Bacon!) This keeps the meat
tender. It’s not necessary to cover the
whole roast, just so there is some fat dripping into it. Smoke the roast for at least 6-7 hrs. Flip the meat about every hour and reposition
the fat on top of each turned side. We
add two handfuls of wood chips every time we flip the meat for at least 5
times. Roast should be done when
internal temp reaches 145°F.
I hope yours turns out as
fabulous as ours!
Nourishing
our Neighbors
Jim and Mary Bowers