Orange Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

There is always a good chance that our family’s holiday meals will be anything but traditional. In fact, we are usually the house in the family that everybody goes to the next day. So, I try to spice things up a little and I have been known to do Tex-Mex for Thanksgiving, and yes, in Texas it is not uncommon for the weather at Christmas to be perfect for a barbecue. There is no sense in going to all the trouble of making the same meal everyone had the day before, right? On those rare occasions that we do host the festivities on the actual holiday and the familial crowd is craving tradition, it must always be turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas.

Turkeys are easy, but they are time consuming because it is all about the basting. Use whatever recipe to brine and season, just make sure that you keep the skin moist and you will have a turkey that is juicy and delicious. This little ditty is about the ham, though. You know what I am talking about, right? That smoked ham that most people get because all you do is put it in the oven and heat it up and slice it. They are so easy, and usually quite tasty, when you follow the instructions on the packaging. We did Christmas the week before at our house this year and I decided to do a ham and potatoes au gratin. We got to do a little tradition, but kept it simple with just one side dish.

How to make a ham shine…...

I started Googling how to prepare a Christmas ham and found an infinite number of different glaze recipes. As I swiped through all the variations, I realized that I needed to go through my kitchen and see what inspired me. After carefully weighing all my options, this is what I chose:

Ingredients

• 10 lb. smoked ham

• 8 – 10 whole cloves

• Zest of one large orange

• Juice of one large orange

• ¼ cup Grand Marnier

• ¼ cup local honey

• ¼ cup spicy brown mustard (I used Zataran’s Creole Mustard)

1. Pour 4 quarts of chicken stock into the insert pan of your roasting oven and preheat to 350˚ (You can do this in a regular oven, too. Use an appropriate sized pan for your ham.)

2. Place your ham, flat side down, on a roasting rack. Make cross cuts about ½” deep over the top and place whole cloves randomly in the crosses.

3. Lower the ham into the roaster, place the lid on the oven, and let cook for 1 hour.

4. While ham is cooking, mix the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, place on medium-low heat and let simmer while the ham is cooking. Stir glaze occasionally.

5. After an hour, brush half of the glaze on the ham, replace the lid and cook 30 more minutes.

6. Finally, pour the remaining glaze over the meat and cook for 30 more minutes.

7. Let the ham rest for 10 minutes and slice for serving.

This ham was great, even for left-overs. I am want to try this glaze with pork chops and chicken, too. It’s totally a keeper!

#simplyeat #comfortfood #christmasham