Holiday Ham

Holiday Ham

Description

This recipes does require quite a few weeks to prepare, if you cure your own ham!

Ingredients

• 1 cured ham (10 - 12 pounds)
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 tin pineapple slices
• cloves
• cherries

Ham curing

• 1 ten pound leg of pork
• 1 pound salt
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon saltpeter
• pinch mixed spice
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 quart boiled water (cooled)

Directions

1. Soak home-cured ham overnight in sufficient water to cover it to remove excess salt.
2. Put in cold water in a large pot or pan and bring water to the boil.
3. Simmer for 2 hours.
4. Allow it to cool in the same water.
5. Remove from water and take off skin.
6. You can also select store bought cured or smoked ham and soak it overnight in Pineapple juice instead of water and there is no need to boil the ham since it is already precooked. You can add to the Pineapple juice a little ginger as well as garlic.
7. Score to make diamond pattern by cutting through the fat with a sharp knife - not more than ¼" deep - in the lean.
8. Stick a clove in each diamond.
9. Blend the liquid from the pineapple slices with the sugar in a sauce pan (or use the pineapple juice mixture stated in #6). Natural brown sugar is better than the white granulated sugar. You can also use honey in place of sugar. For extra kick you can add a little "hot" sauce to the mixture, but find a flavorful hot sauce.
10. Cook over a low flame, stirring occasionally until the mixture boils to form a glaze.
11. Pour this glaze over the ham but saving enough to keep basting the ham throughout cook time.
12. Garnish with pineapple slices and cherries. This should be done half hour towards the end of cook time also pouring some of the mixture over it.
13. Put the ham in an oven and bake at 300 °F for 1 ½ hours, or until done, "basting" with the dripping from the pan.

Ham curing

1. Add sugar and saltpeter to salt and mix thoroughly.
2. Divide salt mixture into two parts.
3. Mix on half in boiled water.
4. Add pinch of spice and nutmeg to other half.
5. Divide remaining salt mixture into two parts.
6. Put away one part to be used after the fifth day and rub remaining half into pork.
7. Rub thoroughly into skin and part into the fleshy part (use all of the salt).
8. Using injector, inject meat, with liquid, five times, two in the knuckle part and three into the fleshy part.
9. Wrap meat into two layers of greased paper and several layers of newspaper, and tie securely.
10. Tie well to secure the shape of the ham.
11. After five days open and rub in remaining salt.
12. Leave for five or six weeks to cure.
13. Smoke slightly.