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Plant-Based Smokehouse Ham

Smokehouse Ham Soy Curls

Juicy, flavor-filled, wood-smoked ham. SO GOOD!
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Course Plant Meat
Cuisine American, German
Servings 0

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 16 ounces water
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 0.75 gram coriander, whole (appx. 1/2 tsp)
  • 1 gram caraway seeds (appx. 1/4 tsp)
  • 1 gram dried minced garlic (appx. 1/4 tsp, or you could sub with a small pinch of garlic granules)
  • 1 grams black peppercorns (appx. 30 black peppercorns or 1/2 tsp of peppercorns)
  • 2 grams juniper berries (appx. 20 juniper berries or 1 tsp juniper berries)
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt (this is the amount I like. If you want it salty, add a good pinch more)
  • 4 ounces soy curls, dry (half a bag)
  • 1/2 tsp beet powder
  • 1 Tbsp water

Instructions
 

Make A Hot Ham Broth

  • Prepare your marinade broth: add water through juniper berries to a pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Filter out spices (either scoop out carefully or pour through a mesh strainer). Discard spices, keep the ham broth.
  • Add salt, dissolve, then add soy curls.
  • Simmer, stirring occasionally until water has evaporated, about 15 minutes. The Soy curls will be very, very soft, perfect to smoke them back to a meaty texture.
  • Set the soy curls in an area to start cooling down.

Fire Up The Smoking Cube

  • Fill pellet tube nearly full of pellets, in this case I used maple, but apple or cherry will work, or a "sweet" / "mild" BBQ blend.
  • Light the pellets on fire on the open end, to really take hold this typically takes about 30 seconds of direct torch flame
  • Let the fire burn for 5-10 minutes, then blow out the fire which will start the smoking

Finish Preparing the Curls

  • Mix beet powder with water, and use a brush to apply to the outside of the curls. Your hand with a glove can work well, too. A rubber spatula works, too, just try to coat them fairly evenly.

Smoke The Curls for 3-4 hours (3.5 is pretty great!)

  • Place soy curls in a mound on the vented grill pan over or near the smoking cube depending on how smokey you want them.
  • Optional: if using a BBQ grill, you can turn a burner away from the curls and pellets on the LOWEST settings. This will increase the curls dark look and help create a blend of denser curls on the outside and softer ones on the inside.
  • Smoke for 3.5 hours give or take 30 minutes, depending on your preference.
  • At this point you can either serve them or let them cool to room temp and seal in a container with as little air as possible. I typically use Food Saver bags since it extends the shelf life in the refrigerator significantly, but this is optional.

Notes

Herb & spice measurements have been provided in both grams and measuring spoon amounts. If you have a tiny scale, you are welcome to use the gram measurements, otherwise, the measuring spoon measurements will work fine!
I often work in small batches of around 2 ounces of Soy Curls at a time, so using the grams measurement helps to fine-tune seasonings. After the flavor profile is really dialed in, I scoop each individually measured seasoning into the closest size of measuring spoon so the recipe can be followed either with measuring spoons or a scale.
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