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Food is a tradition associated with holidays. For Thanksgiving you roast a turkey. For Easter you bake a ham. Glazed ham has become linked with Easter Dinner. But you do not have to save ham for Easter or any other holiday. The glaze on ham can glisten in the lights of your dining room making is a beautiful presentation for a holiday dinner.
You can enjoy a good glazed ham anytime throughout the year. Glazed hams have the advantage of being able to feed many people. Even when you have a large crowd you will usually have some glazed ham left over to make sandwiches out of for the next couple of days.
There are many different types and ways to glaze a ham. There are also a few different types of ham that you can choose from. Boneless hams are easier to work with. They are generally ready to eat even cold. If you want warm ham all you need do is bake for twelve minutes per pound. There are hams with the bone in and they are great but you have to carve around the bone, which is not as neat as the boneless variety.
The glaze for ham is a liquid that is thick and you spread it over the ham while it cooks. Sometimes you use the glaze throughout the cooking process and other times you just add it in the final stages of cooking. A good glaze will enhance the flavor of the ham as well as keeping it tender and moist.
Ham glazes can be made from many combinations of spices, foods and flavors. It is really a matter of personal choice and no choice is either wrong or right. The most important consideration of a glaze is that it is thick in order for it to not run off during cooking. Some popular ham glazes include orange glaze, apricot glaze, brown sugar honey glaze, pineapple glaze, cranberry glaze but you can use any combination to create a unique glaze you love.
When you purchase a ham many times it comes with a glaze packet. Most people do not find this glaze to be all that great and choose an alternative. Some people even prefer to make a glaze that is not sweet. But sweet glazes are more popular over savory glazes. Still a sweet glaze can have a bit of a bite if you add mustard.
Another option is to not glaze the ham at all. A ham is perfectly eatable without a glaze. Just be sure when you cook the ham to retain the moisture by baking in a roasting bag or in foil. But the flavor of ham is truly enhanced with a good ham glaze.
Another alternative is to use a rub and glazify it with a blowtorch.
Ham is one of the more popular main dishes for the Holidays. Glaze yours with orange, apricot, brown sugar and honey, pineapple or cranberry glazes. A good combination of flavors for this method includes orange juice, cornstarch and mustard powder. If you do not have a blow torch you can substitutes Dijon mustard for the mustard powder and omit the cornstarch to make a thick paste. One of these mixtures along with cloves makes for a spicy-sweet glaze that really compliments the ham flavor.
You can find many ham glaze recipes but you may want to experiment with a combination to create a unique tradition for your baked ham. The most important thing to remember about cooking ham is to not let it dry out. If you notice the ham is browning you can place a tent of foil loosely over the ham till it finishes cooking.
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