How To Bake a Honey-Glazed Ham

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Total time:

Ingredients:

How To Bake a Honey-Glazed Ham

Serves at least 10, depending on the size of the ham

What You Need

Ingredients
1 large ham, ideally bone-in and spiral-cut, with no added water or juices
1 cup honey
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Equipment
Roasting pan with rack
Aluminum foil
Chef's knife
Saucepan
Pastry brush

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 275°F and line the roasting rack with several long pieces of foil. These should be large enough to wrap up and around the ham.
2. Place the ham cut-side down in the pan. Take the ham out of its wrappings and place it in the pan.
3. Use a sharp knife to score the skin of the ham into a crosshatch pattern. Slice long lines into the skin (not into the meat itself) and then slice back the other way to form a crosshatch pattern. This makes the ham a little prettier, and it will also help your glaze permeate the skin later in the baking process.
4. Fold the foil up around the meat.
5. Fold the top of the foil together to seal as well as possible. This foil pouch is meant to keep the ham from drying out in the oven.
6. Bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Put in the oven to bake, well-wrapped in foil, and go about your business. The ham doesn't need any attention or checking until at least 1 1/2 hours have passed.
7. Make the glaze: Combine the honey, butter, and sugar in a pan and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted. Stir in the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Turn off the heat and set aside.
8. Check the temperature of the ham. After about 1 1/2 hours, check the temperature of the ham in the thickest part of the meat, avoiding the bone. The ham is fully cooked already, so you are just checking to see if the inner part of the ham is warm yet. If the ham has reached an internal temperature of 120°F, move on to the next step. If not, seal it back up in the foil and put it back into the oven.
9. Glaze the ham. Once the ham hits 120°F internally, turn up the oven to 425°F. While the oven is heating, remove the ham from the oven and ease the foil away and out of the pan. Warm the glaze again if necessary to make it easy to spread. Use a pastry brush to liberally apply the glaze all over the skin of the ham.
10. Bake the ham for 10 minutes. Bake the ham for 10 minutes at the higher oven temperature, then remove it from the oven and turn the oven up to BROIL.
11. Brush with glaze one more time then broil. Brush the ham with the honey glaze one more time, then put back in the oven under the broiler for about 3 to 5 minutes (keep an eye on it though and remove if it begins to smoke). This will give a crisp edge to the skin.
12. Remove from the oven, slice, and serve. Remove the now-glazed ham from the oven. Cut the slices away from the bone, and serve.

Recipe Notes

• You can also use an oven bag, instead of foil, to bake the ham and keep it moist.

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