Glazed Spiral Ham
1 fully-cooked shank half ham bone-in (pre-sliced is best)
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp paprika
1 dash ground ginger
1 dash ground allspice
First you must slice your ham. Use a very sharp knife to cut the ham
into very thin slices around the bone. Do not cut all the way down
to the bone or the meat may not hold together properly as it is
being glazed. You want the slices to be quite thin, but not so thin
that they begin to fall apart or off the bone. You may wish to turn
the ham onto its flat end and cut around it starting at the bottom.
You can then spin the ham as you slice around and work your way up.
Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl.
Lay down a couple sheets of wax paper onto a flat surface, such as
your kitchen counter. Pour the sugar mixture onto the wax paper and
spread it around evenly.
Pick up the ham and roll it over the sugar mixture so that it is
well coated. Do not coat the flat end of the ham, just the outer
surface which you have sliced through.
Turn the ham onto its flat end on a plate. Use a blow torch with a
medium-size flame to caramelize the sugar. Wave the torch over the
sugar with rapid movement, so that the sugar bubbles and browns, but
does not burn. Spin the plate so that you can torch the entire
surface of the ham. Repeat the coating and caramelizing process
until the ham has been well-glazed (don't expect to use all of the
sugar mixture). Serve the ham cold or re-heated, just like the real
thing.
This recipe yields 1 holiday ham.
If needed, more of the sugar-coating is added, and the blowtorch is
fired up until the glaze is just right. It is this careful process
that turns the same size ham that costs 10 dollars in a supermarket
into one that customers gladly shell out 3 to 4 times as much to
share during this holiday season. For this clone recipe, we will
re-create the glaze that you can apply to a smoked/cooked bone-in
ham of your choice. Look for a ham that's pre-sliced. Otherwise
you'll have to slice it yourself with a sharp knife, then the glaze
will be applied. To get the coating just right you must use a
blowtorch. If you don't have one, you can find a small one in
hardware stores for around 15 bucks.
* Yield: 1 ham |