<b><i>By "not fresh" does that mean that it is a cooked cured ham and you are just kicking up the smoke flavor.[?]</b></i>
Yes and no. It is not cured like a county style ham.
I have done many a fresh ham, but I found that if I get a high quality low salt ham wonders can be done with it. I have found that a Hamilton ham to be my choice of store bought hams to work with.
The real trick to this whole deal is: Cold smoked the ham. Next hot smoked it to a temp. of 150 F (sorry me bad I posted 165 F degrees earlier.) Max. smoking / cooking Temp. is 180 degree F. Once ham is smoke / cooked place it into a roasting pan and put it into the frig. for several days before you eat. Leave wrap on it (I use 2X layers of cheese cloth. If you cannot get cheese cloth then try extra wide bandage gauze.) The extra flavor will now go to the bone!
It will be interesting to see how the BS compairs.
As I said in the past we have started with a fresh ham. That took much-o work and time. However, if you want to do one I will look around for that reciepe. But frankly unless you wanted to make your own country style or a true Virginia ham I cannot see a reason for going through that hassle.
I have found this much safer, easier, and the eating in end result is just too close to go through the hassle of a fresh to eatable ham. Wait until you fry up a piece of this with your eggs. You will think you died and gone to heaven.
Olds
