Best 3 Festive Ham Glaze Recipes

THE BEST HAM GLAZE (EASY)

Steps:

• Whisk all ingredients together.
• Brush over a spiral cut or scored ham.
• If desired, brush extra overtop and broil to make the glaze golden.

THE BEST HAM GLAZE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Let the ham sit at room temperature for 30 minutes and trim off any skin. If your ham is not a spiral-cut ham, use a sharp paring knife to score through the fat in a diagonal crosshatch pattern without cutting through to the meat.
• Place the ham, flat side down, on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Pour 1 cup water into the pan. Bake until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ham registers 130 degrees F, about 2 hours 30 minutes (about 15 minutes per pound-reduce the time to 10 minutes per pound for a spiral-cut ham).
• Meanwhile, make the glaze: Whisk the brown sugar, maple syrup, soy sauce, orange zest and juice, Dijon, vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, onion powder and a few grinds of black pepper in a medium saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the glaze has thickened and reduced by half (you should have 1 cup glaze), 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside until the ham is ready.
• Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Brush half of the glaze over the ham. If the water in the bottom of the pan has evaporated, add 1 cup water. Return the ham to the oven and roast for 30 minutes, brushing with the remaining glaze every 10 minutes (two more times) before returning to the oven.
• Let the ham cool for 15 minutes before thinly slicing.

FULLY FESTIVE HAM

Steps:

• Put the ham into a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and then immediately drain and rinse it in a colander, to remove any excess saltiness. Alternatively, leave the ham soaking in cold water overnight.
• Rinse the saucepan and put the ham back in, and add all remaining ingredients. If the fruit juices do not cover the ham then add some water; it really depends on how snugly your ham fits into the saucepan.
• Bring the pan to a boil and then cook at a fast simmer for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Partially cover the ham with a lid if the liquid is boiling away too much and the top of the ham is getting dry.
• Once the ham is cooked, remove it from the hot and now salty juice, and sit it on a board. If you want, you can actually cook this far ahead of schedule and then let it get entirely cold before glazing and roasting it. If that's the case, then cook it for about 1/2 hour less and then just let it get cold in the cooking liquid.
• On the day of cooking, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• When the ham is cool enough to touch then cut and peel the rind off the cooked ham, making sure to leave a thin coating of the white fat on the ham. Score the fat into a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, and stud the points of each diamond with a clove.
• Heat the remaining glaze ingredients together in a saucepan until the jelly or sauce melts into the honey, mustard, and cinnamon to make a smooth but syrupy glaze; it needs to be thick enough not to run off the ham completely as it cooks in the oven.
• Sit the ham on a piece of foil in a roasting tin, which will give you an easier time later washing up, as the sugary glaze will burn as bits of it do inevitably dribble down the ham. Pour the glaze over the clove studded ham so that all of the scored fat is covered. Cook the ham for 15 minutes or until the fat is colored and burnished by the sugary glaze.
• If the ham is completely cold prior to glazing, then cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F, and turn up the heat to 425 degrees F for another 15 minutes. These timings are based on the ham being cold at room temperature, not refrigerator cold.