Slow Baked City Ham Food

SLOW-COOKED HAM

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard, horseradish and 2 tablespoons cola. Rub over ham. Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker; add remaining cola to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until a thermometer reads 140°, 6-8 hours.

SLOW-COOKED HONEY-GLAZED HAM

Steps:

• Blend brown sugar, honey, molasses, orange juice, and mustard together in a saucepan over medium-low heat until thickened, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Let glaze sit until flavors blend, 8 hours to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Place ham in a roasting pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven, checking occasionally, about 10 hours. If ham begins to darken at that point, cover with aluminum foil. Continue baking, about 2 hours more.
• Increase oven temperature to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Bake, coating ham thoroughly with the glaze mixture every 30 minutes, about 2 hours more. Remove from the oven and let stand 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. Serve any remaining glaze with ham, if desired.

SUPER EASY BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F and make sure the racks are all the way on the bottom so there is plenty of room for the ham.
• Bring ham in packaging to sink and have a pan big enough to hold it nearby. I find a 9"x13" baking pan works great. Make sure your pan is at least an inch deep.
• Take ham out of wrapper and rinse it with cool water if you think it feels icky. Then find the plastic doohickey on the large cut end and remove it. At this point you can trim off some of the fat if you would like. I usually don't, as most of it renders out into the pan or is very easy to cut around.
• Place ham in pan with large cut side down.
• Stab with the business end of a probe style thermometer. This is the kind which has a long metal skewer on one end (the business end), a long cable, and a box which has all the controls and readouts. Make sure the probe goes through a large area of meat, not fat, and doesn't hit one of the bones down the center of the ham. Set your thermometer to alert you when the ham reaches 140°F.
• When your oven has reached 350F, put the ham in (be careful, it's heavy).
• Wait until the thermometer alerts you. Then remove the ham from the oven (remember, it's heavy and now it's really hot, too). Remove the probe, and either start slicing or put on a pretty platter and let your family/guests ooh and ahh. :).
• NOTE: The skin gets very black and crispy. Do not panic, the meat is juicy, I promise. Simply cut the skin off where it is really crispy and get to the meat underneath.
• ALSO: If you do not have a probe style meat thermometer, or need an idea of timing for preparing the rest of your meal, an already cooked (city) ham will reheat to 140F in approximately 15 minutes per pound. So a 12 pound ham will take 3 hours. Ish.
• And FINALLY: I like to carve off the leftovers and separate into 1 pound amounts. I then put these into labeled quart sized freezer bags and freeze for casseroles, pasta, or beans another night. The bone can be put into a labeled gallon sized freezer bag, and then thawed for yummy beans another night.

CITY HAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly. Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If you're using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once you've made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don't worry too much about precision here.)
• Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.
• Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint). Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can.
• Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.
• Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.
• *Cook's note: A city ham is basically any brined ham that's packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked "ready to cook", "partially cooked" or "ready to serve". Better city hams are also labeled "ham in natural juices".

SLOW COOKER HAM

Steps:

• Spread about 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar on the bottom of the slow cooker crock. Place the ham flat side down into the slow cooker - you might have to trim it a little to make it fit. Use your hands to rub the remaining brown sugar onto the ham. Cover, and cook on Low for 8 hours.

SLOW COOKED HAM

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard, horseradish and 2 tablespoons cola; mix well. Rub over ham. Place in a 5-qt. Slow cooker; pour remaining cola over ham. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 140°. Yield: 15-20 servings.

ALTON BROWN'S CITY HAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly.
• Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan.
• Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut.
• (If you are using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat).
• Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across.
• Once you have made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise.
• The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham.
• (Don't worry too much about precision here.) Tent the ham with heave duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.
• Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean point brush (clean--as in never-touched paint).
• Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated.
• Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can. NOTE: A small empty spray bottle from the drug store is perfect.
• Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered).
• Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.
• Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.