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Smoked Ginger Peach Ham

I get a lot of questions around the Holiday Season from folks and fans who want to smoke a ham centerpiece for their dinner party. How do you smoke a ham? Well, it’s easier than you think because many excellent tasting hams are already fully cooked and smoked. All you need is to add your personal touch with a little more smoke TLC in your pit and massage it with a tasty glaze. For ham glazes, I love the combination of sweet and fruity. One of my favorite crowd-pleasing combinations is a ginger-peach glaze that’s sure to bring a smile to your guests.

My recipe is inspired by a fruit that traces its origins to China where it was a highly regarded fruit of kings and emperors going back 2000 BC. The peach travelled to Persia (now Iran) before Alexander the Great introduced it into Europe after he conquered Persia around 100 AD. Since peaches are from China, I’ve paired it with another common Chinese ingredient which is ginger. This flavor combination gives the already-cooked ham an exotic and subtle flavor.

  • Total Time: 3 hours 15 mins
  • Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

Glaze:

  • 2 cups peach jam or preserves
  • 2 teaspoons finely minced fresh ginger
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
  • 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 cup orange juice or water

Instructions

  1. Unwrap ham and remove any packaging and netting. Rinse ham for 15 seconds under the faucet to remove excess salt.
  2. Pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle a light coating of SYD rub to kick up the flavor.
  3. Heat up kettle with a hot and cool zone. Put a disposable half foil pan under grates on the cool half of the kettle. Add a half inch of water to keep your kettle moist during the cook.
  4. Preheat to 350F with lid closed.
  5. Place ham on cool side of kettle and smoke until internal is about 140F. Add a tennis-sized chunk of wood every 45 minutes (I used two chunks of hickory in the entire cook). You may need to rotate the ham every 45 minutes so it cooks evenly. The cook will take 2-3 hours depending on the size and how cold your ham was when you started. The ham will drip on the foil pan under the grates making cleanup easier.
  6. While the ham is smoking, mix together the glaze ingredients except ginger in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat and add the minced fresh ginger. Set aside and keep warm
  7. Baste the ham with the ginger-peach glaze every 30 minutes
  8. Once you have reached 140F, you can move ham over to the hot zone and get some nice char and set the glaze.
  9. Remove ham from kettle and lay it down on a nice plate or serving cutting board. Let the spiral cut slices fan out and brush the glaze all over the ham including between the insides of the slices,
  10. Tent with foil and rest 15 minutes before serving. Serve the glaze on the side.
  • Author: Harry Soo
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 3 hours
  • Category: Entree
  • Cuisine: American