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COMMENT:
This is a wonderful recipe to create your own special holiday ham.
It is quite simple to accomplish, but I guarantee you will receive
rave reviews with this dish. Try adding a few of your own secret
spices.
INGREDIENTS:
- 6 bottles root beer (high quality)
- 1 red apple, sliced
- 1 green apple, sliced
- 1 cup red seedless grapes
- 1/2 orange, sliced
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- cracked black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp filé (ground sassafras)
METHOD FOR BOILING HAM:
Place ham in a heavy-bottom black iron pot or dutch oven. Surround
the ham with apples, grapes, orange and cloves. Add root beer and
dust with cracked black pepper and filé. Bring to a rolling
boil and reduce to simmer. Boil approximately 1 hour, turn ham over
and continue boiling until root beer is reduced to a thick syrup.
Remove ham and set aside. Continue to reduce syrup until it is the
consistency of molasses. CAUTION: Do not scorch. Remove syrup and
place in a mixing bowl. Allow to cool and reserve for later.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 (5-10 pound) smoked ham
- 1/2 cup root beer syrup (reserved)
- 1 cup Creole mustard
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Steen's Cane syrup
- 1/4 cup pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup cracked black pepper
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of allspice
- pinch of ground clove
METHOD:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine all of
the above ingredients except the ham. Using a wire whisk, blend
all spices into the mustard mixture until well incorporated. Place
ham in center of a Dutch oven and coat completely with the sweet
mustard mixture. Bake uncovered for 1 hour. You may wish to decorate
the ham for the table centerpiece. If so, use a sharp paring knife
to cut slits an eighth inch deep diagonally across the ham. Continue
in the same pattern from the opposite side until even triangles
appear from the cuts. Stuff with cloves and, using toothpicks, secure
pineapple slices or fresh strawberries to the top of the ham before
baking. |
