Honey of a Ham

Easter is a fun holiday. It doesn't come with all the pressure of the "Big Three" (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve) but it still has a high degree of festivity, with the giving of small gifts, plenty of candy, and even a giant magical bunny that breaks into your house and hides all your eggs. Now that I think about it, that last example is actually kinda creepy and I wonder how much alcohol was consumed before someone came up with THAT idea. I digress....

I have some very fond memories of Easter. When I was little we had the "real" Easter bunny come to visit me at my aunt's house to deliver balloons and candy. One year my mom actually secured a paw print from Mr. Bunny himself to prove he was real when I started asking too many questions. And to this very day my grandmother gives me and all my cousins a plastic egg with our names taped to it written in her cursive on notebook paper, with cash inside. We have to give the eggs back at the end of the day because she reuses them every year, which I get such a kick out of; she is a like a drill sergeant making sure she gets her empty eggs back so she can store them away for the following Easter and repeat the tradition.

This year, for the second year in a row, we got a local ham from Tendercrop Farm in Newbury. We actually got two hams, the second one from Trader Joe's, because A) we had a big crowd B) my family likes to eat and C) everyone likes leftover ham. We ate the Tendercrop ham for Easter Brunch and the Trader Joe's ham was used for leftovers and soup. Now, Trader Joe's generally has some good products, but the TJ's ham couldn't touch the Tendercrop ham in flavor and texture. It was actually quite bad in comparison, but I don't know if it was really a bad ham, or just bad next to the Tendercrop ham. The Tendercrop ham was OUTSTANDING and got rave reviews even among my guests that usually don't touch the stuff. I used the following glaze recipe from Gourmet's April 2009 issue (still mourning the death of Gourmet and go through the old issues frequently in memoriam). I forgot to take a picture of the ham (MUST get better about that) so the hammy photo is also courtesy of them. This glaze is delish - not too sweet, not too overpowering, and compliments the smokey, hammy (my new word) flavor quite well. Even if you can't get to Tendercrop for your next ham, throw the red foil package of sugary glaze away and try this one.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped thyme
1 (12-to 14-pounds) boneless or semiboneless fully cooked ham at room temperature 1 hour
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup mild honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter with thyme and let stand until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in lower third.
Peel off and discard any rind or skin from ham, leaving 1/4 inch of fat on ham. Score fat on top of ham in a crosshatch pattern without cutting into meat. Put ham on a rack in a large roasting pan. Cover ham with parchment paper, then cover roasting pan with foil. Bake 1 3/4 hours.
Meanwhile, boil vinegar in a small saucepan until reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Remove from heat and whisk in honey, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme butter. Let honey glaze stand until ham has baked 1 3/4 hours.
Discard foil and parchment from ham. If there is no liquid in roasting pan, add 1 cup water (liquid will prevent glaze from burning in pan). Brush ham with half of honey glaze, then bake, uncovered, 30 minutes.
Brush with remaining glaze and bake until glaze is deep golden-brown and ham is heated through, about 30 minutes more.