How to Glaze a Ham

Guide Note: How to Glaze a Ham offers tips, tricks and advice of scoring and glazing a ham.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

  • If you're roasting a ham for a special occasion, you might consider scoring and glazing it. A glaze is a combination of ingredients that is slathered on the ham towards the end of the cooking process to enhance its flavor. When it comes to glazes, almost anything goes. While most people use mustard, brown sugar or honey, you'll see glaze recipes that call for everything from bourbon to Dr. Pepper.

Step 1: Trim Your Ham

  • If your ham has a layer of rind and fat on it, it can be trimmed before cooking or towards the end of the cooking process, just before the glaze is applied.
  1. Make a slit in the rind.
  2. Trim the rind and fat at the same time.
  3. Leave a 1/4 inch layer of fat on the ham.
    • You don't want to cut into the meat while trimming.

Note: Martha Stewart recommends waiting until the ham has cooked for at least 2 hours before trimming so that the fat layer underneath the rind can baste and flavor the meat.

Step 2: Score Your Ham

  • Scoring your ham allows the glaze to penetrate the meat—making it more flavorful. Cloves can also be added while scoring for decorative purposes. Scoring can be done before the ham is put in the oven or towards the end of the cooking process when it is being trimmed and glazed.
  1. Make diagonal cuts along the surface of the ham. The cuts should be made to the fat layer. Don't penetrate the meat while scoring.
  2. Make diagonal cuts in the opposite direction—forming diamond shapes in the fat layer.
  3. Insert a clove into each diamond.

Cook and Carve Ham by Cooking.com

Step 3: Glaze Your Ham

Pineapple Glazed Ham (Creative Commons photo by Matt Calder)
Pineapple Glazed Ham (Creative Commons photo by Matt Calder)
  • Regardless of the type of glaze you settle on, it should be applied to the ham's surface approximately 30 minutes before the meat is taken out of the oven. Adding it too early can burn the ham. Here are some ham glaze variations:
  1. Mix equal amounts of powdered mustard and brown sugar. Sprinkle on ham in final 30 minutes of cooking.
  2. Mix equal amounts of brown sugar and honey. Brush sugar and honey mixture over ham in final 30 minutes of cooking.
  3. Mix 1 cup of raspberry preserves with 1/2 cup of light corn syrup. Brush on ham in final 30 minutes of cooking.
  4. Combine 1/4 cup of pineapple juice with 1/4 of honey and 1/4 of brown sugar. Coat the ham with the pineapple-honey mixture in the final 30 minutes of cooking. Optionally, secure pineapple slices and cherries to the ham with toothpicks at this time.

Ham Glaze Recipes

Resources for How to Glaze a Ham

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