Glazed Ham with Sweet Maple Raisin Sauce
Preheat oven to 325°
Thaw 4lb ham and bake in a covered roasting pan until internal temperature is 130°, about 1hr. 20min.
Remove ham from oven, and increase the heat to 425°
With a knife, score the outside of the ham in crisscross cuts, and brush on ¼C maple syrup
Return ham to the oven for 20 minutes, basting several times with the pan juices
Maple Raisin Sauce
Remove the ham from the roasting pan and put it on a cutting board or serving platter
Place the roasting pan on the burner, over low heat
Add 1C water and ½ C maple syrup. Simmer, scraping up any browned bits.
Add ½C raisins, 1tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg, 2Tbl butter, and 2Tbl lemon juice
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the mixture by about a third, and lower to simmer.
Whisk 1Tbl cornstarch with ¼ C ice water (or very cold tap water) until smooth, and slowly pour into the sauce.
Continue to cook, stirring, 1-2min longer, until sauce has thickened.
Carve ham, and serve with sauce
Recipe credit: The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes
You’ll see in the picture above that I studded my ham with cloves. I had a bunch of cloves that should be used up (They say spices loose their spicy-ness after 6 months…oops) and I thought that would be a good idea. It wasn’t.
I carved off a piece of ham, covered it in delicious sauce, and started chowing down. Every couple bites I’d run into a clove. I sifted a couple out of my mouth before I started taking them out of the hamslice, now shiny with a sweet glaze. I guess it could work if you’d pull the cloves out after baking. But that’s too much work for me. The glaze is really good, and it’s not worth trying to add more clove flavor with clove studs.
Check out my other ham and glaze recipe here.