Glazed Baked Ham

Updated Dec 2024 with updated instructions (we made our best ham yet this year)

This ham recipe won converts at our 2019 dinner, because it is so damn good. And if you’re used to cooking a turkey, ham seems like a breeze – I even found myself slightly at loose ends because I didn’t realize how much less time it takes. It was awesome.

If you want a really nice ham and you’re in the Peterborough area, you order from Franz’s. They didn’t pay me to say that, it’s just true.

Glazed Baked Ham

Ingredients

Ham

• Half ham, shank, bone in, about 8-12 lbs. (timetable for cooking other kinds of ham below)
• 2-4 cups of hard cider or apple cider (approx)
• 1-2 cups of water (approx)

Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• fresh lemon juice – just enough to make the sugar-clove-mustard mixture into a paste

Directions

1. Using the timetable below, and the weight of your ham, calculate the estimated baking time. Our 2024 ham was 13 lbs; 13 lbs multiplied by 18 minutes = approx 4 hours
2. Heat oven to 325º F (my mom’s oven runs hot, so we turn the knob down slightly to get the right temperature).
3. In the sink, scrub the skin of the ham well with cold water
4. Place the ham, fat side up, on a rack in a pan.
5. Add 2 cups (approx) of cider and 1 cup water to the pan.
6. Cover ham and pan with aluminium foil; I find that if I use the foil to tent the whole pan and wrap it over the edges, it helps to keep the moisture on the ham and prevents it from drying out.
7. Bake for 1 hour; top up cider + water if it appears to have mostly evaporated. if you have a meat thermometer, check the internal temperature of the ham.
8. Repeat step 7 at the 2 hour, 3 hour, etc mark – this will keep the pan from drying out/burning, and helps you to gauge how much longer the ham needs to bake.
9. Check temperature more frequently in the last hour.
10. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ham should register 160º – 165º F when the meat is cooked.
11. Meanwhile, mix the brown sugar, dry mustard, ground cloves, and just enough lemon juice to make the sugar-clove-mustard mixture into a paste in a bowl.
12. Remove the ham from the oven
13. Using a sharp knife, remove the rind by loosening with the knife and gently pulling the rind up from the ham.
14. Using a sharp knife, lightly score the fat in diamonds.
15. Glaze ham by spreading brown sugar mixture evenly over the fat, upper surface of the ham. The heat of the ham will melt the glaze over the rest of the ham.
16. If the liquid at the bottom of the pan has run dry, top it up.
17. Bake the ham at 400 to brown and glaze, about 20 minutes – just keep an eye on it.
18. Remove from oven, let rest 20 minutes, then carve and serve. The remaining drippings at the bottom of the pan are delicious, and worth spooning over the sliced ham before serving.

Timetable for baking ham at 325º F

Type                               Weight in Pounds             Minutes to the Pound
Bone in 
    Whole ham                       8 to 10                               18 - 20
                                    10 to 15                                 18
                                    15 to 18                                 15
    Half Ham                        5 to 8                                     25
    Picnic Shoulder                 4 to 6                                     30

Bone Out
     Whole Ham                      8 to 10                                   25
      Half Ham                                                                        30