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Heavenly Ham is a simple and easy meal to prepare. Here in the America, ham is a traditional meal served for the Easter Sunday. Meaty ham servings are the perfect way to serve a crowd, maximizing your entertainment time versus kitchen cooking time. Bake in the oven, glaze and allow the chef to slice and serve.
Here’s how to bake the perfect holiday ham. Start by soaking the ham immersed in water overnight. This process plumps and reduces the ham sodium content. Drain the ham and place in rack roaster pan. Roast the ham uncovered, slowly at 325 degrees for 20 minute per pound. Your meat thermometer should register 160 when done. Towards the end of your baking time, prepare your glaze and have your cloves spice ready.
An easy tried and true savory glaze is easy to prepare. Take equal parts mustard and sugar, half that measure of honey, blend well. This is a basic recipe and feel free to improvise, the type of honey you use can make a difference. Our personal favorite is an orange or citrus flavored honey, it really brings out a bit of tang to the sweet. The type of mustard can make a difference in the flavor..
In the last 30 minutes of baking time, take the ham from the oven and score it (slice through the skin and fat) in a diamond pattern. Stud the ham with clove spikes in the scores. Slather your glaze over the entire surface and return to the oven for the last of the cooking time. After you remove the ham from the oven, allow it to rest and then take the temperature, meat thermometer should read 160 or just above.
Here’s how to pick a good ham. Fresh ham should have good marbling, a thick lean middle section and a firm white layer of fat all around. Cured hams should be firm and plump, very pink and finely grained. Avoid hams that are squishy or with a thin fat layer. Younger pork has a gray-pink color to it. Older pork is more rosy pink in color.
If you are fortunate enough to live in an area that has a local ham maker, take advantage of it. Many area’s have farms that specialize in curing and smoking hams. There are some real classics depending on your area. Check this chart for the best listing of hams we’ve seen here at FbyF. Courtesy of the NY times.
Ham is not the most nutritious of meats, but does include a good amount of protein and iron. The down side is ham has a good amount of fat (about 12%), cholesterol and sodium. Extra lean ham, like sandwich meat has better numbers than a home baked ham, but the taste is incomparable to the pre-packaged meat. So for a special occasion, bake your own and trim as much fat away before serving. Happy Easter!
