We hosted my wife's family over for Easter this past weekend. That meant I had an opportunity to cook for eleven instead of just two. I watched some Food Network the weekend prior, so I could scope out some famous chefs' techniques when it comes to throwing an Easter brunch. I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.
Most grocery stores these days will have a host of spiral-cut hams for you to chose from. A lot of them even come with a packet for the glaze. But I wanted to do it myself; so I bought this 15 lb bone-in beauty. That bone will add a lot of great flavor and keep it moist. You may not be able to tell unless you look really closely, but I scored the ham by slicing very carefully about 1/8" into the ham in a diamond pattern.
Put the whole thing into a 325-degree oven for about two hours. I placed it on a roasting pan so any juices that dripped off could steam right back up into the ham. While it's cooking, mix together 3 cups of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of spicy brown mustard, 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and 1 can of cola in a saucepan. Use real cola, not diet, so you can get the real sugars to reduce and caramelize.
Let it bubble and reduce over medium-high heat until it is thick and sticky. But be careful -- because it will boil over in an instant if you turn your back (trust me, because it happened).
You can clearly tell here that this ham had been scored. At this point our house already smelled amazing, and I hadn't done anything except heat it up for two hours.
I drizzled that wonderful sauce all over the top of the ham and let it slowly seep into all the cracks and drip down to cover the whole ham. Pop it back into the oven for another 1.5 - 2 hours to heat all the way through and let that sauce adhere to the outside of the ham.
Ahhh. That's the ticket! Set it aside to rest for 10-15 minutes. You probably won't want to slice into it right away because you could lose some of the moisture. Then get a sharp knife and cut into it to make some 1/4" to 1/2" thick slices. I prefer it to be a little meatier. I don't want a thin little slice like lunch meat ... or worse, cafeteria food.
This was almost like BBQ because it had been cooked for so long, and there was a fantastic "bark" and "smoke ring" around the edges. The young kids shied away from any edge bits because they thought it didn't seem that appealing. But I was eating it like candy while I was slicing it up. Those are the most choice pieces if you're asking me.
The mustard plays really well with ham, obviously. But then when you add in the brown sugar and cola and get that great sweetness to compliment the salty ham, it really was fantastic.
I have already enjoyed the leftovers once (twice, if you count the pieces of cold ham I have just grabbed out of the fridge). And I need to find another way to enjoy that sliced up ham this week. We sent a fair amount home with family. And I saved that great bone, so I've got that stored for a later dish.
My mental wheels are already churning...
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