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 Redmond)

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

www.bowersfarmtn.com