Easter ham: I look forward to it every year. I love the tradition of Easter at our house. We wake up, hunt for the Easter baskets, go to church, and finally come back home to share a big meal with the entire family. My mom had a particular way she prepared our holiday ham: she put cloves on top, a can of pineapple chunks at the bottom, and cooked it until it shrunk to half its size. While I may exaggerate a touch, I think most families back in the day were trained to eat overcooked meat and mine was no exception.
As I learned to cook, I quickly realized what most do not acknowledge: most hams are already smoked (meaning pre-cooked). They do not need to roast in the oven for countless hours like a turkey does. I happily embraced this idea, and I have been on a quest ever since to find the ideal recipe to accentuate the naturally delicious flavors of baked ham. I am convinced that this is it.
Our Ginger Snap Crusted Ham with Rum Glaze relies on a combination of old-fashioned ginger snaps, sweet brown sugar, tangy mustard, and the woodiness of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. All of these flavors blend together perfectly and melt as they cook to form a molten river of flavor. We like it so much we don’t wait until Easter to make it. We especially savor the drippings from the bottom of the pan; we like to serve them in a bowl on the side for dipping. Jackie and I agree that this quintessential ham recipe will be handed down for generations to come.
- 1 10-12 pound ham ( we used a Black oak ham)
- 15-20 ginger snaps
- ½ C brown mustard
- 1 C dark brown sugar
- ¼ C Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees
- In a food processor place ginger snaps and pulverize to a fine chop.
- Place ham in baking dish that will have at least an inch of clearance all around ham.
- With a pastry brush, spread brown mustard all over the ham
- Next, pack brown sugar all over the mustard ( this is messy and it will slide off, just try to get as much as you can on ham.
- In a spray bottle or mister place ¼ C captain Morgan rum and spray brown sugar until complete wet and rum gone.
- Take ginger snap pieces and press onto rum soaked brown sugar( again it will slide off that is ok)
- Place in oven uncovered and cook for 8-10 minutes per pound of ham, covering loosely with foil half way thru cooking.
- When done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes, move to slicing plate and slice ham.
- Drippings from bottom of pan can be placed in a bowl and used to spoon or brush over ham when serving.
[…] croquettes in his mind; his mother used to make a beef version for him when he was a kid. Combining our delicious baked ham with some sharp cheddar cheese seemed like a natural thing to do, and boy did it pay off! […]