Our friends made this ham for a Christmas party we had one year, and it was awesome. It’s a bit of work, but the results are amazing.
INGREDIENTS
1 8-12 lb whole ham or 5-7 lb canned ham (whole ham is better and weighs more because of the bone)
Whole cloves
1 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
20 oz canned pineapple slices in syrup
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon hot mustard (optional)
NOTES
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Place V-rack (or pie pan inverted) in roasting pan. This will keep the ham from sitting directly on the bottom of the roasting pan.
- Place ham fat side UP on rack or inverted pie pan and put in the oven
- Bake ham, cooking at rate of around 18-24 min per pound. It may be helpful to use an electronic timer.
- Quarter (or 6th or 8th) the pineapple slices. You want flat pieces and you want to keep the syrup.
- Combine brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, pineapple with syrup, lemon juice and mustard in saucepan on Medium.
- Heat until sugar and cornstarch are dissolved.
- 45 minutes *before* end of ham baking time, pause timer and remove ham.
- Lightly score ham in a cross-hatch pattern.
- Place whole cloves in cuts.
- Glaze ham with sauce and drippings
- Put ham back in oven and finish cooking
- After baking, remove ham and let cool.
- Remove cloves.
- Carve the ham and lay slices into an oven-friendly serving dish.
- Place pineapple pieces between slices for spacing.
- Apply remaining glaze (this is why I double the glaze)
- Bake an additional 15-30 minutes, basting regularly.
While the ham is baking, prepare the glaze:
This next section is optional, but will impart even more flavor to the ham.