Homemade Honey Baked Ham Recipe

Stop! Before you order that Honey Baked Ham online for $75 plus shipping and sales tax, you can make it at home, quick and easy and for 1/3 the price.

"This ham tastes very much like the famous honey baked ham but costs much less, and there's no need to fight the crowds at holiday time. You can even buy the ham pre-sliced to make it easier and more like the original. It is very good. (I do this while preparing the rest of the meal in the kitchen so that I don't forget to baste!)"

Generally 1/2 lb. per person should be sufficient for dinner setting. 1/3 lb. per person is suitable for buffet setting.

Serve at room temperature. We do not recommend heating. If you have leftovers, I don’t recommend freezing ham, make a soup (recipe to follow).

EQUIPMENT: Roaster, Saucepan, Whisk, Ham & Bread Slicer

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 spiral-sliced ham (I prefer Smithfield 12-14lbs.)
• Many toothpicks or cloves
• 1 can 8 pineapple slices, juice reserved (optional)
• 1 jar 8 maraschino cherries, juice reserved (optional)
• 2 tbsp. Apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup Dom from Guam Marinade or soy sauce
• ½ cup orange juice
• Bunch whole cloves
• 1 cup honey
• ¼ tsps. Ground cloves
• 2 tbsp. French’s yellow mustard

Hams come from the butt end or the shank (lower leg) of the pig. The butt end has more meat and fat, and the shank end has sweeter meat. It’s cured in a brine solution, or rubbed with a salt brine dry cured, then smoked or cooked. Hams are sold boneless or bone-in. I like the bone-in hams because they have more flavor; and you can make an excellent soup with it. These instructions are for reheating and glazing a cured, fully-cooked ham.

Hams are typically served warm or at room temperature, and it can be served cold it you prefer.

Preheat your oven to 375° (191°C). Your first objective is to warm the ham internally before glazing, and to combine the glazing liquids with ham juices.

Place the Ham on the rack in heavy-duty ROASTER. Using toothpicks, decoratively arrange the pineapple slices securing with whole clove, or toothpick, if using. Place the cherries in the center of each pineapple ring and secure with clove or toothpick. If you choose not to decorate with sliced pineapples and cherries, keep in mind, your will still need pineapple juice for the glaze.

In a mixing bowl, combine pineapple juice, cherry juice, vinegar, marinade, and orange juice, and add it to the roasting pan by pouring it over the ham. Bake at 375°F (191°C) for about 10 minutes per pound, until a meat thermometer registers 135°F. Remove the ham in the roasting pan from the oven and set aside. Leave the oven on to set the glaze.

To prepare the glaze, in the 1½qt, using a suction baster, remove as much liquid from the bottom of the roasting pan as possible. Cover the ham and allow to rest. To the liquid, using a whisk, combine the honey, ground cloves and yellow mustard with the pan juices. Heat the pan over medium heat 275°F (135°C) and bring to a simmer, whisk occasionally as the liquid thickens. When it begins to stick to the whisk and does not run, the glaze is ready to apply.

Uncover the ham and apply the glaze by dribbling on with a spoon or the whisk. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes until the glaze is burnished.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before carving. Remove the ham from the roaster, and transfer to a cutting board. If a spiral cut ham, remove to platter for serving.

Sectioning Your Ham

1. Using a knife, cut around the bone of the Ham.
2. Cut along the natural muscle line to remove the top section of slices.
3. Cut straight down from the base of the bone to release the remaining sections.