Just Cook It! Greet Easter dinner with glazed ham
In just 10 short days it will be time for yet another major holiday. If you regularly read my columns, and I hope you do, you know that I love holidays. In fact, I’ve even been known to celebrate lesser holidays just for a convenient excuse to celebrate.
The holidays are special times throughout the year when loved ones gather to celebrate with copious amounts of delicious food and beverages and enjoy each other’s company. It’s a time when we can all reflect on how lucky and blessed we really are as opposed to all of the hassles and stress we go through during the normal days of the year.
The food and drink happen to be one of my favorite parts of the holidays. We all have our own unique, fun, and interesting traditions that we celebrate but we also have a lot of traditional foods in common that we enjoy.
The holiday on the horizon is of course Easter and it is no exception to traditional holiday fare. Hot cross buns, Easter pie, Easter eggs, roasted lamb and Easter ham are just a few of the more common Easter staples.
In this week’s column, I would like to discuss ham in more depth. Ham is one of those common items that everyone seems to enjoy during the holidays.
Many types of ham exist, and learning about all of the different types available can be a real advantage when you are preparing your Easter meal. Let’s look at some of the different hams available, and then I will give you my personal go-to glazed ham recipe that I developed and love to make not only during the holidays, but all throughout the year when I get the opportunity.
The major varieties of hams available are bone-in, boneless, spiral cut, water or brine added, dry-cured, ham steak, fresh ham and country ham. They’re all unique and all can be delicious depending on your personal preference. Let’s look a little closer at what makes each variety unique to give you a better understanding of each one.
A ham is called bone-in when at least part of the leg or hipbone is still in place. I like bone-in hams because the bone adds great flavor during cooking. Anytime you roast meat on the bone you are going to achieve a deeper more intense flavor in the final product. The same rule applies to lamb if that is going to be the centerpiece of your Easter meal. A bone-in leg of lamb or rack of lamb will yield a better and more intense flavor than a boneless loin. Now back to ham.
A boneless ham is exactly what the name implies. It is when all of the bones have been removed. The shape of the fully cooked ham is then re-formed or wrapped or canned to hold the meat together. The advantage of a boneless ham is that it is much easier to slice since there is no bone to contend with. The disadvantage is the lack of the bone to contribute extra flavor while cooking.
A spiral-cut ham is a fully cooked bone-in or boneless ham that has been pre-sliced for easier serving. Spiral cut hams usually come with a glaze packet but I don’t like to use the packets since I have no control over what’s actually in them. I like to be in control of my ingredients and the flavors I create. I find that being in control yields a much more delicious, and in some cases better for you, product.
A water or brine added ham is a fully cooked ham that has been injected with brine or with water added. Reading the label on the package will allow you to determine which of these methods was used. I’m not a huge fan of water or brine-added hams because I feel that the addition of water or brine detracts from the flavor of the ham itself. It’s the same feeling I have toward brining turkeys at Thanksgiving. I like to taste the flavor of the meat, not the liquid that is added in an attempt to enhance the meats texture.
A dry-cured ham is made when the surface of the ham is salted and the ham is stored to let the salt penetrate it. A Parma ham (prosciutto) is an example of a dry-cured ham. Be selective when buying dry-cured hams because most modern day dry-cured hams are cured using sodium nitrite. Refer to my “Just Cook It ” column from last Thursday for reasons why I believe you should try to avoid regularly consuming sodium nitrite.
A ham steak is a slice from the center of a bone-in ham. This cut is primarily used when you want a smaller portion of ham or for cutting into smaller pieces for use in other recipes.
A fresh ham is an unprocessed, uncooked ham. Most hams are put through a curing process and are then called cured hams. Fresh hams are not cured and therefore are nothing like the smoked ham you are most likely used to. Fresh hams have a flavor and texture similar to pork loin with a very crispy skin similar to that of pork belly.
A country ham is uncooked but is cured, dried, and smoked. Some country hams, such as the famous Smithfield hams, can also be simply cured and dried without being smoked.
I hope a look at some of the different ham varieties available gives you a better understanding of what exactly you are looking for when you are doing your Easter food shopping this year. Select the ham that best matches your personal preference, enjoy my personal glazed ham recipe included, and of course – Just Cook It!
Mario J. Porreca of Belle Vernon is a food personality, author, and the host of Just Cook It on WMBS Radio 590 AM. He can be reached via his website at: www.JustCookIt.net. Twitter: @MarioPorreca
Mario’s Glazed Ham
Yield: 16-20 servings
1 陆 cups Applejack Brandy
戮 cup honey
录 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups water
1 12-14 pound bone-in (or semi-boneless) ham
12 tablespoons (1 陆 sticks) butter
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the Applejack, honey, maple syrup and red pepper flakes and whisk until all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
2. Pour two cups of water into the bottom of a large roasting pan and then set a roasting rack into the pan.
3. Use a pairing knife and score the fat on the ham in a crosshatch pattern. Place the ham on the roasting rack and brush it with the Applejack, honey and maple syrup mixture. Roast the ham at 350 degrees and every 20 minutes rotate the pan 90 degrees and brush the ham with more of the Applejack mixture.
4. In a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and then add the brown sugar and stir with a rubber spatula until the brown sugar dissolves in the butter.
5. When an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the ham reads 125 degrees, pour the butter and brown sugar mixture over the ham and use a rubber spatula to spread it into as even a layer as possible. Continue roasting the ham until it reaches an internal temperature of 135 degrees – again using the instant-read thermometer and inserting it into the thickest part of the ham.
6. Remove the ham from the oven and allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.