Baked Vermont Ham Recipes

BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place ham in a roasting pan, and press whole cloves into the top at 1 to 2 inch intervals. Pack the top with a layer of brown sugar. Pour enough water into the bottom of the roasting pan to come to a 1 inch depth. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil or a lid.
• Bake for 4 1/2 to 5 hours in the preheated oven (about 22 minutes per pound), or until the internal temperature of the ham has reached 160 degrees F (72 degrees C). Make sure the meat thermometer is not touching the bone. Let stand for about 20 minutes before carving.

MAPLE-GLAZED SMOKED VERMONT HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place ham on a roasting rack in a large roasting pan. Cover tightly with foil. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, 4 hours.
• Meanwhile, make glaze: In a small saucepan, heat jam until liquefied. Strain through a fine sieve into a small bowl; discard solids. Stir in mustard, maple syrup, rum, and garlic.
• After 4 hours, remove ham from the oven, and brush with glaze. Continue baking the ham, glazing every 15 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the ham (avoiding bone) registers 140 degrees, about 1 hour more. Remove from oven, and transfer to a carving board or platter. Garnish ham with bay leaves and kumquats, if desired. Slice thinly around the bone, and serve hot or at room temperature.

SUPER EASY BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F and make sure the racks are all the way on the bottom so there is plenty of room for the ham.
• Bring ham in packaging to sink and have a pan big enough to hold it nearby. I find a 9"x13" baking pan works great. Make sure your pan is at least an inch deep.
• Take ham out of wrapper and rinse it with cool water if you think it feels icky. Then find the plastic doohickey on the large cut end and remove it. At this point you can trim off some of the fat if you would like. I usually don't, as most of it renders out into the pan or is very easy to cut around.
• Place ham in pan with large cut side down.
• Stab with the business end of a probe style thermometer. This is the kind which has a long metal skewer on one end (the business end), a long cable, and a box which has all the controls and readouts. Make sure the probe goes through a large area of meat, not fat, and doesn't hit one of the bones down the center of the ham. Set your thermometer to alert you when the ham reaches 140°F.
• When your oven has reached 350F, put the ham in (be careful, it's heavy).
• Wait until the thermometer alerts you. Then remove the ham from the oven (remember, it's heavy and now it's really hot, too). Remove the probe, and either start slicing or put on a pretty platter and let your family/guests ooh and ahh. :).
• NOTE: The skin gets very black and crispy. Do not panic, the meat is juicy, I promise. Simply cut the skin off where it is really crispy and get to the meat underneath.
• ALSO: If you do not have a probe style meat thermometer, or need an idea of timing for preparing the rest of your meal, an already cooked (city) ham will reheat to 140F in approximately 15 minutes per pound. So a 12 pound ham will take 3 hours. Ish.
• And FINALLY: I like to carve off the leftovers and separate into 1 pound amounts. I then put these into labeled quart sized freezer bags and freeze for casseroles, pasta, or beans another night. The bone can be put into a labeled gallon sized freezer bag, and then thawed for yummy beans another night.

BAKED VERMONT HAM

Steps:

• The only skin that needs to be removed from my favorite ham is a piece around the shank. Yours may need more removed. Score the fat in diagonal lines about 3?4-inch apart, making diamonds. Mix sugar, molasses, and spices together and rub mixture into the surface of the ham. Press whole cloves into the intersections of scored lines. Sprinkle fine bread crumbs over the whole surface. For Basting Sauce: Mix ginger ale, cider, and extra ginger and pour mixture into a roasting pan. Place the ham on a rack in the roaster. Insert meat thermometer so that it touches neither fat nor bone. Set the pan into a preheated 200° oven. Baste ham twice during the first hour, then cover with aluminum foil and forget it until morning. The next day the thermometer should register 165° and the ham should be a golden brown. If necessary, let it go on cooking until it reaches this stage. Set in a cool place but do not refrigerate it. Serve at room temperature. Fun Fact: Vermont government is distinctive for its local tradition of Town Meeting Day, held the first Tuesday in March. In many towns and villages, municipal and school budgets are voted from the floor as they have been for nearly 200 years.