Growing up in Canada New Years always meant my mother would be cooking a Ham. We had turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas and we had Ham for Easter and New Years. I don't know if there is a religious reason for this, or if it is just a family tradition, but it is something I still do. Ham for New Years.
My mother never did anything fancy with it. It would be boiled and then roasted. She usually had a bone in ham, but you never see those over here. It would be served cold with mustard. We would have mashed potatoes and green beans with it and a special dessert. If we were really lucky it would be a Lemon Meringue Pie.
I don't ever remember her glazing it. Not ever. I do remember seeing photographs of glazed hams in the magazines . . . the fat glistening and cut into diamonds and crusted on the edges with a sweet sugary crust . . . each diamond studded with a clove or a cherry. They looked so very pretty.
This year I bought a boneless cooked ham. Over here uncooked ham is called Gammon and you have to boil it before you can eat it. However once it is cooked and called a ham it is always edible right out of the pack. I like to heat it through though and glaze it. It just makes something quite simple that little bit more special.
This glaze was absolutely brilliant. Nice and spiced with ginger, both from the gingerale and from the ginger jam, a tiny bit spicy from the Dijon mustard and tabasco, sweet also from the ginger jam and some brown sugar and a smidgen tart from the addition of apple cider vinegar.
Those ingredients get heated together until the ginger jam melts and then all whisked together. I cut diamonds in the ham so that some of the mixture would go down into the ham. I rolled it in it all over and then I baked it in a moderate oven, basting it every ten to fifteen minutes with the glaze.
Now here is where it gets really special. I crushed gingersnaps for even more ginger flavours and sprinkled them over the top of the ham and basted it again. Baked for a short time longer it forms a nice gingery crust. I probably basted it two more times before it was done.
The end result was a lovely flavoured ham with a gingery crust and the juices in the roasting dish thickened up from some of the crumbs to make a sauce that was just gorgeous spooned over the warm ham. All in all this was a real winner! We loved it. Oh, I do love it when an experiment or an idea turns out to be every bit as delicious as I had envisioned it to be! I hope you will give it a go!
*Gingersnap Glazed Ham*
Serves 4 to 6 with leftovers
This is delicious. Simple to make. The oven does all the work. The leftovers are delicious sliced and served cold with cheese and pickle.
60ml apple cider vinegar (1/4 cup)
1/2 (454g)jar of ginger preserves (about 1/2 cup)
I really do hope you will try this out. I can promise you, you won't be sorry. If you cannot find the ginger jam, use some orange marmalade with a tsp of ginger powder added. It will be every bit as good. Happy New Year and Bon Appetit!
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