Recreating a Baked Honey Ham

Last weekend was Easter and I wanted to try to recreate a popular Honey Ham.  I searched around for possible ideas and finally landed on one that was created by Family Circle Magazine.   Basically this uses a standard spiral cut ham and then dresses it up in a nice honey fashion.  When I was finished I personally liked it better than any ham that I have ever tried.

This simple recipe requires 5 ingredients, one being the ham and a small butane torch.

Baked Honey Ham – (Adapted from Family Circle)

• 6-10 lb spiral cut ham – I used a boneless variety that worked great.
• 1/2 cup pear nectar + 3 tbs for the rub
  
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the ham cut side down into a large baking pan.  Place the ham in the oven for 30 minutes.  Mix the pear and orange juices together and baste over the ham every couple of minutes.  A cool BBQ tip would be to place the mixture into a clean spray bottle and spray the juices over the ham.  They sell clean spray bottles at the big box home improvement stores for a couple of dollars.

While the ham is initially cooking mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of honey plus 3 tbs pear juice.  After the initial 30 minutes, remove the ham from the oven and brush it with the brown sugar honey mixture.

Place it back in the oven and cook for another 45-60 minutes or until the internal temperature reads around 140-145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the ham from the oven.  Mix together the remaining brown sugar and honey and brush it all over the ham.

Using a butane torch, caramelize the glaze to form a crust.  By the time that you have finished caramelizing the glaze it will be time to serve.

Dana got all artistic with this shot.

Cut into slices and serve.

The juices remaining in the pan can be used to make a nice ham gravy.  I found them to be a little sweet for my taste buds, but Dana loved them.  To make a pan gravy, drain the pan juices into a sauce pan.  Then mix 1/4 cup of water with 3 tbs of cornstarch.  Mix together until smooth and then pour into the pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce until thickened.  Serve over ham and/or potatoes.

I really enjoyed this ham.  I purchased the boneless spiral sliced ham for $2.29/lb at the store.  Sure beats the $9/lb they charge at the fancy ham stores.  Plus, I thought it tasted a lot better.  I think that was mostly because of the fresh caramelization of the glaze.  No matter what, it was delicious and I will definitely make it again.