The Smoked Spam-wich

The guilty pleasure meal has finally made its way to ForensicBBQ.com. For those hesitant of SPAM, I get it. I understand it. I’ve been in your shoes, and then I tried this. I’ve only ever had SPAM one way, and that was smoked – sprinkled with my home blend of pork seasoning. I really thought I had made a post of this earlier in this venture, but it seemed to have escaped me. May I introduce you to the ForensicBBQ Smoked Spam-wich.

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Recipe

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Feel free to fast forward to the recipe, as I always avail it early to y’all. But I do recommend a read – not only because I put some time into typing it out, but because I think it’s what you’ll want to read. In any event, roll the red carpet out for SPAM.

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The Prep Table

What is SPAM? I remember it being told to me as “Semi Processed Artificial Meat”. You can run the Googler and see other variations to what it is or may mean – but let’s be real.. it’s a pork product. It’s not exactly a great pork product, but it is what it is. You’re not expecting a gourmet dish when you peel back the foil tab, so keep things in proportion.

The main thing is throwing some smoke at ’em and then having fun with the result. The sandwich is my go to, but I also love a fried rice variant at the same time. I made this on a Saturday and fried some rice on a Sunday to accomplish my goal of a week of meal with that delicious spam goodness. I’ve had a couple of their varieties, but not too many. Let me know your favorites in the comments, I’m open to suggestions!

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The Process

This ain’t a glorious cook. I won’t make the ForensicBBQ name based on a smoked SPAM product. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make it legit – make it better – make it a worthwhile addition to the recipe book. Let me prove that to you.

As I released the salt brick of meat from it’s container, you can see the color variation. Take note, because you’ll see the smoke kiss it and it’ll be nearly indistinguishable. I will say the “un-canning” of the Hot & Spicy variant had a rather unpleasant film associated with it. It was rinsed off and that’s our result. Let’s put a slice on her.

Once we sliced these up, we’re going to line these up on a frogmat. I’ve mentioned these on a whole lot of posts from jerky, to bacon, and a whole lot of other ones that need a little more surface to rest. Highly recommended. These have been beaten to shit after all the smokes, but they do their job to this day. Anyway, let’s sprinkle a little bit of that Fine Swine BBQ Rub on there.

The problem with adding some rub onto SPAM is are you really adding more salt on top of a salted meat product. For your generic store bought rubs, that’s exactly what you’re doing. When I make mine, I seriously cut down on any extra salts. Being said, I still lightly dust the “salted meat bricks” with a little bit more oomph to make it shine.

Fire up your smoker to 225f and let your sliced meat product bathe in that smoke for about 2 hours. If you like ’em a little burnt, let it go longer. You’ll see I like a little crisp on mine – So I was damn near 2 hours with this smoke.

This was damn near an hour in, and real quick – the “Jalapeno” variant grabbed that smoke and you can barely tell the difference between the two. We know the pellet smokers don’t spit the smoke that Stick smoker do – but let this picture sink in. You’re still getting some result from the product.

It’s about time to call it. Edges are getting a little texture, the SPAM is wet and seasoned – we just have to sandwich it up. We’re taking some cheap ass cheese product (in this case, Velveeta squares) and going to line a couple. My sandwiches are just two bricks of cheesed spam, an onion topper and love. I’m sure you can mayo it up if you prefer a little sauce, but that’s not what I went with.

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The Result

Pulled the other SPAM bricks off and bagged them up for lunches. Kept four – two each of the “Jalapeno” and “Hot and Spicy” – and dressed them up with a little cheese. Melt it down and put it on some bread and drop some onion halos on these angels.

This post was meant for a couple reasons: Dispel the negative connotation that SPAM has had (at least I had growing up). Also that you can put lipstick on any pig and make it your own. The smoke adds a beautiful addition to the product. For this one, I used the Lumberjack Competition Blend (my generic go to for high smokes, and I had the hopper lined with it. I topped it off with straight Hickory for my Sunday cook prep, so it got a little harsher smoke at the same time).

Don’t shy from the SPAM! I’m going to do a chop-up and add it to some fried rice in addition to the sandwich, so it’s versatile. In these prepper kind of times, always nice to have on hand!

And “Jalapeno” SPAM still wins, in my opinion. Better than original, reduced sodium, and “Hot and Spicy” in my taste testing opinion. Find your flavor and enjoy!

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The Recipe