Bundy Rum-injected double-smoked ham

[Original recipe posted by Jeff Phillips on www.smoking-meat.com] WITH Christmas just around the corner, this Bundy Rum-injected double-smoked ham recipe will have your guests drooling on the big day. Get set to impress.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Smoker Temp: 110C
• Meat Finish Temp: 60C
• Recommended Wood: Hickory, Pecan, Cherry

• Bone-in Ham (heat and eat)
• Rum sauce (or maple sauce) – recipes below

First you’ll need to mix up the rum sauce (or maple sauce if you prefer).

Tip: You might want to double the recipe so you’ll have enough to brush or drizzle onto the finished ham slices once it’s all done.

You’ll need:

• 1/3 cup of Bundaberg Rum
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar (dark or light)
• 115g (1 stick) of butter

Pour the rum into a small saucepan over low heat. Add the butter and let it melt while you stir it around. Add in the brown sugar and let it dissolve while you continue to stir. Once everything is melted and dissolved and warm, remove from the heat.

Do not let the sauce boil or you will end up making candy.

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Maple Sauce for Injecting into Ham

Very similar to the rum sauce except you leave out the rum and only use 2tbs of brown sugar:

• 1/3 cup of maple syrup (grade A dark amber)
• 2tbs brown sugar
• 115g (1 stick) butter

Pour the maple syrup into a small saucepan over low heat. Add the butter and let it melt while you stir it around. Add in the brown sugar and let it dissolve while you continue to stir. Once everything is melted and dissolved and warm, remove from the heat.

Do not let the sauce boil or you will end up making candy.

Injecting the Sauce into the Ham

Once the Bundy Rum sauce is finished, it is ready to inject into the ham.

 

Warning: I highly recommend wrapping the ham in plastic wrap. When you inject it, some of the sauce will squirt out of unsuspected places in a geyser-like fashion and up a metre away!

With the ham wrapped in plastic, fill the injector with the warm sauce and inject as much as you can at 2.5cm intervals. Some of it will leak out but much of it stays in there and flavors the inside of the ham.

For those who are not familiar with injecting, push the needle into the meat at a 45-degree angle and slowly pull it out of the meat as you depress the plunger.

When the injecting is finished, remove the plastic.

 

Now that you have flavored up the inside of the ham, you will also want to do something to the outside as well.

I recommend using a rub (recipe of your choice).

Brush a little of the rum or maple sauce onto the ham to make it nice and sticky and then sprinkle the rub all over the meat.

You will notice I placed the injected ham on a Bradley rack to make it easy to transport to and from the smoker.

 

At this point, the ham is ready for the smoker.

You can use whatever smoker you have or even a grill with an indirect setup.

Preheat to about 110C and when it’s holding steady, place the ham directly onto the grate.

Apply heat and smoke for about three hours or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 60C.

If your smoker is having no trouble maintaining the set temperature, consider brushing on rum or maple sauce a couple of times while it smokes.

If your smoker loses heat easily then it is best to leave the door or lid closed as much as possible. In this case, it is fine to brush on some of the rum or maple sauce about 30 minutes before the ham is finished.

Let the ham rest for 15-20 minutes and then slice it up into 0.5cm-thick pieces piled onto a nice platter.

If you have extra sauce, consider brushing or drizzling some onto the pieces that are sliced.

Finally, enjoy your delicious double-smoked ham over the holidays!

Note: If you use the rum sauce, I must tell you that not all of the alcohol cooks out of the sauce during the brief warming period and during the time in the smoker. Rum adds a lot of nice flavor but there is still alcohol present when it is being served. Over 18s only.

The maple sauce is a very good alternative if kids will be eating and contains no alcohol.

For more information on smoking meats including double-smoked ham, head over to Seriously Smoked today!