Papa's Pride {Recipe: Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Ham}

My father didn't cook much, but he always cooked the meats for holidays. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, he cooked turkey, and for New Year's Day and Easter, he cooked ham. He took a lot of pride in the meats he prepared, but he never wrote down what he did. Everything he made was probably a little different from one time to next, because he always added "a bit" of this, "a handful" of that and "a touch" of whatever. No measuring was ever involved, but I'll admit, everything he made was good.

I do have a written record of his instructions for preparing ham. Years ago I wanted to prepare a ham for a holiday get-together, so I called him for help. While going through my old recipe file, I just came across the notes I jotted down while I was talking to him. A couple of things he was adamant about: 1. Remove the rind and any excess fat,  2. Soak the ham for 5-6 hours in 2 quarts of apple cider vinegar, adding enough water to cover the ham. He believed by soaking the ham, it would be less salty. I don't know if there is any validity to this, but it does make for a tender and tasty ham. Other than "score it," the rest of the instructions are about as clear as he ever was, "mix brown sugar, mustard, and a touch of molasses; spoon over."

Since this is the only written record that I have of something my dad (or Papa, as his grandkids knew him) prepared, I wanted to pass it on. I did my best to guess the measurements. It did turn out quite well.

Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Ham

1 ham shank, smoked or cured (I used a 9 pound, smoked bone-in ham shank)
2 quarts apple cider vinegar
water
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mustard (I used Dijon)
1 tablespoon molasses

Remove rind and trim any excess fat off the ham. Place ham in a non-reactive container (I used a large pot lined with a jumbo zip-lock bag), pour apple cider vinegar over the ham and add enough water to cover the ham; cover (or zip bag closed). Place in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours. Take the ham out of the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature. While ham is coming to room temperature, line a roasting pan with foil.* Also, mix together brown sugar, mustard, and molasses. This makes more of a paste than a glaze; set mixture aside. Once ham has come to room temperature, preheat oven to 325°F.  Remove ham from the vinegar solution and rinse well. Score the ham. Spread the flat side of the ham with the brown sugar mixture and place the flat side down on the rack of the roasting pan lined with foil. Spread about 1/3 of the brown sugar mixture over the rest of the ham. Place in the oven and bake about 15-20 minutes per pound. Occasionally spread the remaining glaze a time or two while cooking. If glaze starts browning too much and the ham is not done, tent with foil to prevent further browning. The ham is done when a meat or instant read thermometer reaches 140°F. If you want the glaze to brown a bit more, remove the ham from the oven, turn oven temperature up to 425°F, return the ham to the oven for about 10 minutes or so, until desired browning is achieved. Remove ham from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving. 

*Note: the glaze is very difficult to clean off a roasting pan, that is why you want to cover it with foil. I made the mistake of having a seam that the glaze seeped under-it was a pain to clean off the roasting pan!

Enjoy!