Friday, December 25, 2015

Savory Holiday Ham



I decided to try something new for this year's Thanksgiving ham. I looked around at several recipes online and decided to give dijon mustard a try, and also substitute molasses for the expensive maple syrup. OMG, ya'll. This is slap-yo'-mama good. It was so good that I just made it again for Christmas dinner!

Ingredients:
  • one large ham roast, butt or shank portion, unsliced (they are all cooked but get the plainest, cheapest one you can find. No fancy spiral cut or seasoning.)
  • Dijon mustard
  • dark brown sugar
  • molasses
  • whole cloves, about 3 Tbl or so
  • 2 C water
Instructions:
  1.  Open the ham and place it in a large roasting pan. Make sure you get that plastic thingy off the bottom of the bone.
  2. Cut a grid into the ham, only about 1/2 to 1 inch deep. Try to make it as even as possible, and make the cuts about 1.5-2" apart.
  3. Spread some Dijon mustard all over. 
  4. Take about 1/2 cup (unpacked) of the brown sugar and rub it all over.
  5. This is the time-consuming part. Take the cloves and insert one into each grid intersection, pointed part first.
  6. Drizzle generously with the molasses. Don't bother to spread it evenly. It will cook and even out.
  7. Pour 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan. You don't need to put a lot of water in. As the ham cooks, it will release juices, so make sure there's plenty of room for that.
  8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 275 for 6 hours. Pour the juice over the ham at least once during cooking.
  9. After 6 hours, the ham should be falling apart. 
  10. Pick all the cloves out and throw them away. Pull the ham apart into large chunks, pick out any bones and gristle, and push the meat down into the juice. Put it back into the oven for another 30 minutes and you're done!