First, I'm glad to see you trying your hand at brining a ham! You will be spoiled and won't want to buy a store bought ham again.
A question: Did you inject the hams with curing Brine (especially around the bones)? If you didn't, you may want to pull them out and do so, otherwise 8 days may not be enough time for a proper cure.
You can check this thread out, if you like:
Ham Brining 101It's pretty detailed, but it's broken up into readable sections and pretty much walks you through the whole process, and includes tables that show proper amounts of cure & injection rates. Getting the proper amount of nitrites into it is
kinda, sorta, pretty important.
Pre-Smoke Prep:Drying: After it's done brining, place it on a wire rack over a tub and pat it dry with some paper towels. It will immediately start feeling tacky. This is the proteins forming a pellicle. If you like, you can let it air dry a bit with a fan blowing on it (or stick it under the turned-on exhaust vent of your stove). Air drying allows the pellicle to form a little better, but is NOT critical though. As long as you pat it off and it feels slightly tacky it will work, and smoke will stick to it!
Rubbing it: whether or not you apply a rub and what to use is totally optional.
A light sprinkling of ground allspice gives a great holiday ham flavor (probably my favorite rub/seasoning).
A light coating of fine ground black pepper, instead of a glaze works nicely too! Half the time I don't do any rub at all.
Glazing: Again, optional and choices are limitless. Honey, Maple syrup, Whisky & Brown Bugar, Brown Sugar mixed with some fruit juice, etc. There are more ideas in the Ham Brining thread as well.
Here's the Ham Tee was talking about, that I made at the Fall Gathering (it was actually a Picnic Ham - shoulder cut):
I used my simple Brown Sugar Cure (posted in the "Ham Brining 101" thread), no rub, hot-smoked overnight, then glazed with maple syrup.
Smoking/Roasting: Your new Rec-Tec will be the perfect tool for smoking/roasting it. DON'T turn it on until you are ready to put the hams on. This will let you tale advantage of all the smoke during the igniting & warm-up period. Set it to smoke mode for at least a couple hours, then bump the temp to around 225°.
Don't start glazing until the internal temp of your ham reaches about 140° - 145° or the sugars will burn. Apply glaze every 15 - 20 minutes. Pull the ham off when it reaches between 160° - 165° and LET IT REST for at least 45 minutes. While resting, the smell will drive you and your family/guests crazy - let it!
Lastly, enjoy and be sure to get some pics to share with us so we can enjoy it with you!
Cliff
