Smoking a ham imparts a rich flavor and aroma. Smoking with hickory wood on a gas grill presents special challenges unique to cooking with propane, rather than traditional fuel sources such as hardwood and charcoal. Proper ham smoking takes hours, with regular basting to prevent the meat from drying out, so a full tank of propane and a free afternoon are essentials. You need a grill with two separate inside burners. A single-burner grill will cook the ham faster than the smoke can adequately absorb into the meat. This will produce a broiled ham, but it won't be smoked in the traditional sense.
Instructions
1. Soak 3 pounds of hickory wood chips in a large metal bowl for at least two hours.
2. Remove the cooking grates from the grill and place the cast-iron smoker box to the side over one of the burners.
3. Ignite the grill and turn the burners to high with the cover closed for 10 minutes of preheating.
4. Open the grill cover and fill the smoker box with drained hickory chips.
5. Set the cooking grates back on the grill and dial down the heat to low on the burner below the smoker box. Turn off the other burner.
6. Place the ham over the burner that has been turned off. The other burner will provide heat and burn the hickory wood to produce smoke.
7. Close the grill and open the vents halfway to promote smoke circulation.
8. Adjust the burner control knob to reach an internal grill temperature of 200 F, using the oven thermometer.
9. Smoke the ham for 30 minutes per pound with the grill cover closed, checking once an hour to add more hickory chips to the smoker box and to baste the ham using equal parts brown sugar dissolved into apple cider vinegar.
10. Remove the ham from the grill when the thickest part is 165 F on a meat thermometer.
Tags: hickory wood, cooking grates, cover closed, from grill, grill cover, hickory chips, other burner
