Baked Fresh Ham Food

BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place ham in a roasting pan, and press whole cloves into the top at 1 to 2 inch intervals. Pack the top with a layer of brown sugar. Pour enough water into the bottom of the roasting pan to come to a 1 inch depth. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil or a lid.
• Bake for 4 1/2 to 5 hours in the preheated oven (about 22 minutes per pound), or until the internal temperature of the ham has reached 160 degrees F (72 degrees C). Make sure the meat thermometer is not touching the bone. Let stand for about 20 minutes before carving.

ROASTED FRESH HAM WITH CIDER GLAZE

Steps:

• One day before roasting: In a plastic container large enough to hold the ham, stir the water with the salt and brown sugar until dissolved. Add the spices. Score ham in a diamond pattern through the skin and fat, taking care not to cut into the meat. Add ham to brine, weight it with a plate to keep it submerged, and refrigerate for at least 4 but no more than 8 hours. Drain, rinse, pat the ham dry, and refrigerate.
• One hour before roasting, remove the ham from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. For the rub: Pulse the olive oil, mustard, parsley, sage, garlic, red pepper, salt, and black pepper in a food processor to make a paste. Rub it all over ham. In a large roasting pan, toss the onion wedges with 1 cup of the apple cider, and set the ham on top. Roast the ham for 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature 325 degrees F, and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165 degrees F, about 4 hours. After the first hour, loosely wrap aluminum foil around the bone to keep it from burning.
• Meanwhile, for the glaze: Boil, then simmer, the remaining apple cider in a saucepan, skimming as needed, until syrupy and reduced to about 2 cups, about 1 1/2 hours.
• During the last 1 1/2 hours of cooking the ham, brush it with the glaze every 30 minutes. Transfer the cooked ham to an ovenproof platter and let it rest in the turned-off oven for 30 minutes. Loosely cover the onions in a bowl, and put them in the oven as well. Strain the pan juices into a saucepan, skim off any excess fat, and bring to a boil. Make a paste with the flour and butter and whisk a bit at a time into the juices. Boil until thick. Carve the ham and serve with the onions and sauce.
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BAKED FRESH HAM: BUZHENINA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• With a sharp knife score the fat of the ham in a diamond pattern. Rub generously with salt and pepper. Mix together the mustard and brown sugar and spread all over the ham.
• Set the ham on a rack in a roasting pan, fat-side up, add 1 cup of the beer and 1 cup of the apple cider, the cloves and the bay leaves, and roast for 20 minutes.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. degrees and continue roasting, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until a meat thermometer inserted diagonally into the thickest part of the ham registers 155 degrees F. about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. As the ham roasts, replenish the beer and the cider in the pan. If the top of the ham brown too much, cover it loosely with foil.
• Remove the ham from the oven and let stand, covered loosely with foil, for about 30 to 40 minutes, during which time the internal temperature will rise. Carve the ham into thin slices and serve with the pears.

BAKED FRESH HAM

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• It is not essential, but you will ease carving the ham after cooking if you run a knife around the contour of the hip bone on the underside of the ham. Run the knife down deep around the bone, but do not remove the bone now. It will be removed after cooking
• In a mixing bowl, blend the salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, sage and oil.
• Place the ham on a flat surface with the rind side up. With a boning knife, make 1/4-inch-deep gashes from the butt end to the shank and cut through the rind at 1-inch intervals.
• Place the ham in a roasting pan with the skin and fat side up; massage it all over with the spice mixture.
• Place the ham in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes and reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes more, basting occasionally. Add the onion, carrots, celery and bay leaf. Cover with foil and reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Bake for 2 hours, basting occasionally. Add the chicken broth and continue cooking for 1 more hour. The internal temperature should be about 165 degrees. Two bones will protrude from the shank (the small end), one large and one small. If the small upper bone can be removed with a slight pull, it is an indication that the ham is cooked.
• Remove the ham from the pan, cover with foil and keep warm. Skim off the fat from the gravy with a large spoon. Strain the gravy with a strainer. Let the ham rest for at least half an hour before carving.
• To carve, run the carving knife under the rind, remove it and cut away excess fat. With the ham fat side up make a perpendicular cut down to the bone about 3 inches from the shank end and carve in thin, long slices on the bias. Serve with hot gravy.

FRESH HAM WITH CRACKLINGS AND PAN GRAVY

Steps:

• With a small sharp knife prick the ham skin all over, make 4 parallel 1/2-inch-deep incisions through the skin the entire length of the ham, and rub the ham lightly with the oil. In a small bowl rub together the coarse salt, the thyme, the sage, the pepper, and the mustard and rub the mixture over the entire surface of the ham. Put the ham on a roasting rack set in a roasting pan and put the pan in a preheated 500°F. oven. Reduce the temperature immediately to 325°F.> and roast the ham for 1 hour. Pour half the beer over the ham, roast the ham for 30 minutes more, and pour the remaining beer over the ham. Roast the ham for 2 1/2 hours more, or until a meat thermometer registers 170°F., and let it cool on the rack in the pan for 15 minutes. Pull off the brown crisp skin, leaving the layer of fat on the ham, with scissors cut the skin into small pieces, and arrange the cracklings in one layer in a baking pan. Sprinkle the cracklings with salt and bake them in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until they are crisp and browned. Transfer the cracklings to paper towels and let them drain. Cut the remaining fat from the ham, slice the meat thinly across the grain, and arrange it on a platter. Keep the ham warm, covered.
• Skim off the fat from the juices in the roasting pan, add 1 cup water, and deglaze the pan over moderate heat, scraping up the brown bits. Transfer the liquid to a saucepan. In a small bowl whisk together the flour and 1/4 cup of the broth until the flour is dissolved and whisk the mixture into the deglazing liquid with the remaining 3/4 cup broth, the mustard, the sage, the thyme, and the vinegar and pepper to taste, and simmer the gravy, whisking, for 5 minutes.
• Garnish the ham with the cracklings and the watercress sprigs and serve it with the gravy.

RUSSIAN STYLE BAKED FRESH HAM (BUZHENINA)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Using a sharp knife, score the skin of the ham in a diamond oattern.
• Mix together the mustard, brown sugar, and salt and spread all over the ham.
• Place the ham on a rack in a roasting pan, add the remaining ingredients, and roast, basting with the juices, until a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees F or the juices run clear when you insert a skewer into the thickest part of the roast, about 3 hours.
• Let the roast stand, covered with foil. for 15 minutes.
• Carve into thin slices and serve with gravy, if desired.

ROASTED FRESH HAM

Steps:

• Place a rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Trim skin and excess fat from ham, leaving a layer of fat. Score ham all over in a diamond pattern of 1/2-inch-deep cuts about 1 1/2 inches apart.
• In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and thyme, pinching and sifting mixture until thyme becomes fragrant. Pat mixture all over ham and into crevices.
• Place ham fat-side up on a rack in a large roasting pan and roast uncovered for 1/2 an hour. Turn heat down to 350 degrees, pour 2 cups wine and 1/2 cup water into pan and loosely tent with aluminum foil. Continue to roast, basting every hour. Add water to pan, if necessary, to keep pan juices from scorching; bake until a meat thermometer pressed into thickest part of ham reads 155 degrees, about 3 1/2 hours.
• Let ham stand 15 to 20 minutes before carving. Pour pan juices and remaining 2 tablespoons wine into a small saucepan and simmer about 2 minutes. Turn off flame, add half-and-half, and serve with ham.