Southern Baked Ham with Easy Ham Glaze

Southern Baked Ham makes a perfect dinner for the holidays! Whether you’re looking for a Christmas ham, a Thanksgiving ham, or whether you just come from a ham-loving family, you can’t beat this recipe! This recipe includes instructions for an Easy Ham Glaze that’s perfect all hams, from spiral cut to cured or uncured hams. If you can’t finish it all in one night, the flavor keeps very well and you can turn the leftovers into a delicious meal whenever you get that hankering for ham again!

Ham is a huge part of almost every holiday tradition, but I remember having them all year long when I was growing up. The preparation of this southern baked ham is really simple, and a cooked ham goes a long way. Leftover ham is the most valuable kind of leftover! I like to have them with fresh veggies for the first meal, make sandwiches for the second, and soup for the third. Then I freeze the ham hocks and make soup stocks with it later on. Having a ham hock in your soup stock increases the flavor by double, in my opinion.

One year, a terrible storm ravaged the Eastern coast of the US, and Virginia was hit particularly hard. My dad was working as a lineman for a power company and traveled up to Virginia to help repair the state’s power grid after the storm. He knew, like my whole family did, that I have a soft spot for all things local and regional. I asked him to come back with something from Virginia for me to sample, and he brought back a—ham. It was so salty! It was a cured ham, which I love because it’s preserved, like forever! But you must soak these in order to eat them. I didn’t know that back then!

Most people grace their holiday tables with the spiraled ham or “city ham,” as it’s sometimes called. They are pre-cooked, but you can put your own glaze on the ham, and that makes all the difference in the world in terms of flavor. I love serving ham for large groups. It allows me to focus on the other parts of the table spread while the ham is cooking. The less trouble and stress, the better for me!

Tips for Buying a Ham:

1. Always buy bone-in ham. The flavors are much deeper and tastier.
2. Don’t buy the salt injected hams. The label should read “Ham in its own juices.”
3. Make your own glaze.
4. Score the fat on the ham to enhance and amplify the flavor of the ham.
5. Bring the temperature of a fresh ham up to 145-160 degrees. The higher it gets after 145 degree, the dryer your ham will be.

Southern Baked Ham with Easy Ham Glaze Recipe

Southern Baked Ham makes a perfect dinner for the holidays! For Christmas, Thanksgiving, or anytime, you can't beat this recipe!

5 from 2 votes

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Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Southern

Ingredients

  

• 1 (7-8 pounds) bone-in smoked ham rinsed and patted dry
• 1/2 cup signature dry rub
• 1 cup Alaga Syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup brown mustard
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

 

• Massage dry rub into the ham and place in the refrigerator overnight.
  
• When you are ready to cook the ham, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
  
• Remove the ham from the refrigerator and place in a roasting pan fat side up. Bake ham for 1 hour, or until the ham is warm.
  
• Meanwhile, in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, combine syrup, brown sugar, mustard, vanilla, ginger root, and cayenne pepper. Allow the glaze to bubble and simmer for about 10 minutes or until it begins to thicken. Allow the mixture to cool. After 30 minutes, remove the ham from the oven and brush ham liberally with the glaze. Allow the ham to cook for 15 minutes and brush with glaze again. Cook ham for another 15 minutes and remove from oven. Allow the ham to rest for 20 minutes and drizzle some of the remaining glaze over the top of the ham.
  
• To enhance the flavor of the ham, score the fat on the top of the ham with diagonal cuts.
  

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