big ole country ham

Some nice person gave us a Virginia country ham for Christmas. The directions say to scrub it well and soak it in cold water to get some of the salt out, then proceed with the cooking.
Any of you fellow Roadfood folks have a good ham glaze recipe, besides the standard brown sugar/mustard/clove one? Maybe one with orange or peach flavor? I need it in a hurry, we're serving it for New Year's Eve. Thanks a bunch!

I've never heard of glazing a country ham, and I'd suggest that you not treat it or serve it as you would a regular ham.

However, if you do wish to glaze a country ham you might want to try this:

Applesauce Glaze

1 cup applesauce
3 tbsp. red cinnamon candies
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. ginger

Combine applesauce, candies, and ginger. Cook slowly until the candies are melted, stirring occassionally. Stir in lemon juice, makes one cup. Brush on skinned ham.

To boil or bake a whole ham or sections, simmer a completely immersed ham in water or a mixture of water and fruit juice (apple, orange, or peach) or vinegar, for about 20 minutes per pound, or bake in the oven at 250 degrees in the oven in a roasting pan, without boiling, in water or a mixture of water, brown sugar and vinegar for 20 to 25 minutes per pound of ham to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. Your ham is done when you can stick a knife into it with a little resistance and the meat begins to separate from the bone. Remove the skin and excess fat, return the ham to a roasting pan and add cloves and a rub of brown sugar, vinegar, and dried mustard and broil until sugar is melted. When browned as desired, add pineapples or baked apple slices, and serve warm.

If you're planning on using a country ham for a dinner main dish, I strongly suggest that you soak for at full day (scrub well first & change the soaking water a few times) then boil or steam for about 2 hrs. Then remove the rind and do what you want re: a glaze and finish in a hot oven for about 20 minutes or so. As to the finish, I like brown sugar, bread crumbs, dry mustard, lots of black pepper & spike with cloves.

If you don't do the boiling part first and just roast it, its likely going to be way too salty for a dinner main dish.

NB: You'll be amazed at how much the ham "grows" as it absorbs water -- but it doesn't become watery. Good luck & happy new year.

Why, thank you, guys! I don't know which one to try. In any case, I'm copying them and will use them. The soaking advice I will also follow, as I suspect the ham is VERY salty. Will let you know how it turns out next week. Y'all have a happy new year as well!

A country ham will take a glaze just like a wet-cure ham. Do a Google search on "glazed country ham" and you'll get a lot of ideas, for a glaze, as well as for cooking approaches. The liquid medium for cooking, for instance -- water, apple juice, cola, Dr. Pepper, and so on. Soak it good, for the salt, and then slice it thin. Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by GordonW

A country ham will take a glaze just like a wet-cure ham. Do a Google search on "glazed country ham" and you'll get a lot of ideas, for a glaze, as well as for cooking approaches. The liquid medium for cooking, for instance -- water, apple juice, cola, Dr. Pepper, and so on. Soak it good, for the salt, and then slice it thin. Good luck.

Absolutely. Broadbent's even supplies their own glaze with their precooked hams so you can stick 'em in the oven, warm 'em up and glaze 'em. My own favorite glaze, though, is just a reduction of lots of brown sugar dissolved in canned pineapple juice (the pineapple slices and maybe some cherry halves go on the ham also).

By the way,with an uncooked country ham, the soaking and scrubbing is critical and I think it's also a very good idea to follow the above recommendation to boil the thing for a while before removing the skin, baking and glazing. It not only removes some of the saltiness, it also moistens it because country cured hams are very dry.

If you don't have a stockpot large enough to hold the ham for simmering, you can use a large roasting pan with liquid (i use water and coke) halfway up. cover with heavy duty foil, and roast at 350 for 2 hours, flip it over and go for another two hours. when cooled somewhat, remove the skin leaving as much fat as possible- you're now ready to glaze.

you may have to saw off some of the shank to fit in your cooking vessel.

as mentioned above, slice very thinly!

Hi! Just wanted you guys to know that my ham turned out just great. I ended up using a peach preserves/bourbon/clove glaze (our friends love peaches, and we were having them over for this meal) and soaked it, glazed it, baked it--we had enough to slice down and put in in Seal-a-Meal bags (a Christmas present from my kids) and we will have enough to last the winter. Hope you all have a good year. Thanks for all your help.