Christmas Ham
There were three really neat ideas yesterday morning on GMA for fixing a Christmas ham. They were all done by Emeril and looked beautiful, so I wanted to pass them along to the FReeperKitchen crew. (Had hoped to link to the photos, but they're not on the GMA site - only the recipes are.)
My favorite in the "looks" department was the cinnamon one, with cinnamon stick pieces holding orange slices in place all over the outside of the ham. Very pretty!
Here are the recipes - the root beer one is a take-off on the ever-popular Coca-Cola Ham recipe.
~~~~~
Sugarcane Baked Ham with Spiced Apples and Pears
12 sugarcane swizzle sticks, each cut into about 3 inch pieces
1 hickory smoked ham, spiral sliced, 8 to 10 pounds (no bone, water added, cooked)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup Steen's 100 percent Pure Cane Syrup
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 pounds (about 4) Granny Smith apples
1 1/2 pounds (about 4) Bartlett pears
2 dozen medium buttermilk biscuits
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a shallow roasting pan with parchment or waxed paper. Insert the sugarcane sticks into the ham at 3- to 4-inch intervals. Tie the ham, using kitchen twine, at 2-inch intervals horizontally and vertically to keep it together. Place on a wire rack in the roasting pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, cane syrup, molasses, corn syrup, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. Mix well. In a small bowl, dissolve the mustard in the water, then add to the spice mixture. Blend well. (Makes about 2 1/2 cups.) Brush the entire ham with the glaze, coating it evenly.
Wash, core, and halve the fruit. Place all around the ham. Baste the ham a second time and baste the fruit with the glaze. Bake for 45 minutes.
Baste the ham and fruit again. Bake another 45 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the ham registers 150 degrees F. Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Remove and discard the string and swizzle sticks. Serve the apples and pears on a platter with the ham. Serve everything warm or at room temperature. Serve with the biscuits.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Root Beer-Glazed Baked Ham
One 12-pound to 15-pound fully cooked ham, bone-in, scored decoratively
4 (12-ounce) cans of root beer
4 tablespoons pepper jelly
2 bay leaves
¼ cup Emeril's Steak Sauce, or your favorite steak sauce
2 teaspoons pepper sauce (recommended: Caribbean Pick-A-Pepper)
8 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 oranges, zest and juice
2 lemons, zest and juice
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
1 teaspoon bitters (recommended: Angostura)
Instructions
Place all of the above ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan except the ham. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and continue to cook until the root beer is reduced by 2/3 and takes on a syrupy consistency, about 30 minutes. Remove the glaze from the heat and strain into a clean, heatproof container. Set aside until ready to glaze the ham.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Trim rind and excess fat from the ham, leaving a ¼-inch-thick layer of fat. Score the ham in a decorative diamond pattern. Place the ham in a large roasting pan and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, basting occasionally with the pan juices.
Remove the ham from the oven and brush the top and sides with the root beer glaze. Return the ham to the oven and continue to cook, glazing every 15 minutes and tenting the ham with foil if browning too quickly. Cook until a thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the ham registers 150 degrees F, about 45 minutes to one hour longer.
Remove the ham from the oven and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature, thinly sliced.
Yield: 12 to 20 servings
Cinnamon-Citrus Glazed Ham
One 9-pound fully cooked ham, bone-in, scored ¼-inch deep in a diamond pattern
10 3-inch cinnamon sticks cut in half lengthwise into 20 pieces
4 navel oranges, sliced crosswise into 1/3-inch slices (20 slices)
5 lemons, sliced crosswise into 1/3-inch slices (20 slices)
10 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon black pepper
One 13-ounce jar orange marmalade
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ cup orange juice
½ cup water
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of ground cloves
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the ham, cut side down, in a large roasting pan. Insert the cinnamon sticks partially into the scored ham at even intervals. Skewer one orange slice and one lemon slice onto each cinnamon stick and push the slices down so that they fit snugly against the ham. Tuck the bay leaves around the orange slices. Sprinkle the ham with the black pepper. Bake the ham, uncovered, until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, about 2 hours. Baste the ham with the glaze during the last hour of cooking.
Make the glaze when the ham first goes into the oven: Combine the marmalade, brown sugar, orange juice, water, hot sauce, ginger, and cloves in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook until mixture reduces to a glaze consistency and coats the back of a spoon.