Baked Ham

Baked Ham is a holiday treat, but in our family we eat it year round.  This recipe is my sister-in-law Donna's specialty.  

Ingredients:

• Smoked Ham, bone-in, whole or shank
• 1 box of light brown sugar, reserve 2/3 C. for the topping
• 1 (12 oz.) bottle of Dijon mustard
• 1 (12 oz.) bottle of honey
• 3/4 C. of beer
• 3/4 C. of Coke
• 1 can of sliced pineapples
• 2 T. corn starch

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. In a medium sized pot on low heat, melt the honey, then whisk in the mustard then whisk in the sugar, then add the beer, and finally the Coke until all are combined
3. Place the ham in a roaster with a cover
4. Score the ham and attach the pineapples to the top of the ham with toothpicks
5. Pour the sauce over the ham, then pack the reserved brown sugar into the top
6. Cover the ham, or if you are using a baking pan cover with foil
7. Bake for 1 hour
8. Reduce the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 8 hours
9. Raise the temperature to 300 degrees and remove the cover for the last hour - Total baking time will be 10 hours
10. Remove the ham from the roaster and place on a cutting board
11. Put the roaster on the stove and heat the sauce to a medium heat
12. Add ½ C. of cold water to the corn starch in a small bowl, whisk until fully dissolved
13. Add to the sauce and cook until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes
14. Carve the ham and serve with the sauce

 Tips and Tricks:

• Add water to corn starch, NOT corn starch to water.  It makes a difference.  Whisking helps also, you don’t want lumps.
• When you carve a ham, you should carve the meat so your knife is perpendicular to the bone.  An electric knife works well for this project.