I prefer it when Easter falls late in the spring. Easter fell almost one month exactly after the start of spring this year. That gives us all ample time to get the garden in, decorate house and yard with Easter eggs, plan an Easter cookout, and find the perfect Easter dress.
I remember it snowing on Easter once in the early 70s. We had stopped by my grandparents house after feeding cattle and I distinctly remember the snow flakes falling and Grandma making homemade hot cocoa for us before we hurried home to get ready for church. That is not the only Easter I remember shivering in Sunday services in a our new Easter sundresses.
This year, our Easter weather was beautiful. Like I said, I love it when we can cook out on the patio, inspect what perennials have emerged in the flowerbeds, and enjoy relaxing on a warm Easter weekend.
There was no snow this year and I don’t believe anyone froze in their sleeveless dresses.
As we enjoyed the weather, we smoked a ham on in our vintage smoker. It was a glorious afternoon. It turned out most delicious, so I definitely wanted to record our recipe and share it with you all.
Easter Ham
7 1/2 lb. bone in pre-cooked and cured ham (shank ham)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/8 c. sweet paprika
1/8 – 1/4 c. 100% apple juice for spritzing
apple wood chipsScore the fat on the ham. Mix brown sugar and paprika and rub on scored side.
Rub in the brown sugar and paprika.
Place in preheated smoker (220 degrees). Place ham, laying ham on one of the sides (not the cut side), on a rack.
Smoke for 2 1/2 hours at a constant 220 degrees.
Remove to wrap in foil. Place apple juice in a spray bottle and spritz the ham well with the juice. Wrap up in foil and finish cooking until internal temperature is around 160. (Ham is actually already cooked and cured so at this point you are just heating it up.)
The apple juice spritzing ensures that the ham will remain moist.
A 7 1/2 pound ham fed us well for Easter dinner (it was just the two of us this year) plus supplied the main ingredient for pasta and sandwiches later in the week. I found a great Deviled Ham Recipe at Kitchen Riffs that I made as well. I ground up the remaining ham to freeze so I could make my Grandma’s delicious hamloaf later on.
Sandwich slices
Besides the Broccoli Pasta Salad, we also grilled some asparagus to round out the meal. I cubed up some ham and tossed it with he leftover grilled asparagus in an Alfredo sauce. I highly recommend that!
I tossed the leftover asparagus with a bit of cubed ham in an Alfredo sauce for later in the week.
And, of course, we had Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.
Easter falls a bit earlier next year on April 5. Then in 2016, it will fall on March 27. We maay have to get the sweaters out for that one.
A beautiful ham! I love the spritzing of the apple juice!!!
It was delicious, Mimi. Thanks!
I have never made anything like this…..and you even own a smoker! It looks so delicious.
This could easily be done in the oven, just sans the smoke. It would still be delicious with the rub and the apple juice.
Yup, those early Easters can be met with snow, especially here in Colorado. I love your ham recipe. Especially the paprika for the color. Lovely meal.
Thanks, Lea Ann. Yep, guess I shouldn’t complain. 🙂
Oh, thank you Debra. We purchased a smoker last summer and we’re having fun trying it with different recipes. We haven’t done ham so I’m so happy you posted this! It sounds fabulous.
Ooh, Chris! I hope you use this recipe. Please let me know what you think!
Ham looks great – you have a recipe for ham loaf?? I hope you post that one. I want a good recipe for that too!
Yep, I will have to dig it out b/c I haven’t seen it for years. My grandma made the best—it had some sort of brown sugar glaze on top. Probably not the most healthy dish but it was sooooo good!
Hi Debra,
It makes me so happy to share your Easter dinner, Debra. Marion and I got a bite out on Easter and although it was good, no leftovers!!! I saw that recipe for Devilled Ham at John’s and when I did, the leftover ham craving hit big time. Now that I see your ham and the slow smoking method you used to cook it, I may just need to bake an after Easter Ham! Thank you so much for sharing, Debra. I would love to get a smoker but Marion avoids anything with the word smoke in it, lol…
I would highly recommend John’s Deviled Ham recipe, too. I made it with leftovers. It is most worthy!
Easter ham is like Thanksgiving turkey – my favorite part is what we make with the leftovers. Making an alfredo sauce for ham and asparagus sounds delicious.
I don’t know which I like better …. Easter ham or thanksgiving turkey.
What a wonderful Easter dinner! I’ve been taking the lazy route and buying a honey baked ham. Next year, I’m determined to cook mine, too!
Honey baked is delicious, too.
I love ham prepared this way! We don’t have a smoker, but with a lot of fiddling you can achieve the same result with a kettle grill. Kinda, sorta. 😉 Good stuff — thanks.
Yep, fiddle away! Thanks, John.
I would have love to have joined you for this Easter ham!! Awesome!
There would have been plenty.