Smoking secrets
 

No im notsharingsome but needing some basic rules and guidelines. Thanksgiving I tried to smoke a ham but it did not turn out like I wanted or thought it should.
I have a homemade smoker/bbq trill with smoke stack on the side. Air vents on the side of the fire box and a way to controle the amount of smoke that comes out of the stack.
I started by soaking split apple wood overnight. I started my fire with some plain firewood and when I had a nice bed of coals I added some of the apple.
I placed the ham in a pan with h20 and a few spices. I made sure to not to let it get dry. Let it smoke for about a hr.
The pan and the outer layer of the ham had a sticky film on it. Why?
Any help ?
Rick

RE: Smoking secrets
 

Maybe the wood you were burning was green. (Not dry enough) The smoking wood should be seasoned(dried for about 6 mo or better) than soaked in water for about an hour. Dry wood would burn and give a harshtaste,I use apple chunks that are about the size of half your fist. Also your main fire wood to start with should be a hard wood notsoftwood such as pine or spruce whitch will produce creasote.

RE: Smoking secrets
 

"No im notsharingsome but needing some basic rules and guidelines. Thanksgiving I tried to smoke a ham but it did not turn out like I wanted or thought it should.
I have a homemade smoker/bbq trill with smoke stack on the side. Air vents on the side of the fire box and a way to controle the amount of smoke that comes out of the stack.
I started by soaking split apple wood overnight. I started my fire with some plain firewood and when I had a nice bed of coals I added some of the apple.
I placed the ham in a pan with h20 and a few spices. I made sure to not to let it get dry. Let it smoke for about a hr.
The pan and the outer layer of the ham had a sticky film on it. Why?
Any help ?"

I smoke all sorts of meat from a homemade smoker all the time. I use only real hardwood that is left as a log until just before I use it. I then split only what I need. You can use dry wood which creates a hotter fire. I use green wood when I cold smoke hams or bacons which needs to stay under 100 degree's during the smoking process. One of the things that I forgot to mention was when you first put the meat in the smoker you need to open the damper and crack the door to get rid of the moisture on the meat. The smoke will not adhere to the meat if it is too wet. If you use dry wood you only need to soak it for 30-60 minutes. Were you trying to cook/smoke it? In that case I would have used dryer wood. You need to raise the temp up to at least 250 degree's. Again I only use wood to do this.Can you send me a picture of your smoker so I can make a better informed answer than guessing what happened. E-mail me directly if you would like.

RE: Smoking secrets
 

most likely it was the sugar from the ham and the apple wood.if you marinaded it in any thing sweet the sugar comes out.

was it a fresh ham , or a precooked one from the meat dept. ???

if precooked, it has sugar in it.

sounds like it was OK afterall.