Homestyle Honey Ham

If you are like most Southerners, you love Thanksgiving as much as we do.  So, to kick-off our countdown to Thanksgiving, we are starting with one of the main courses – HAM – flavored with our own Hometown Honey, of course!

There are several ways you can enjoy the flavor of ham this season.  You can shell out nearly $100 and buy a HoneyBaked™ ham or you can make your own with this easy recipe!

How To Cook

These days everyone is cooking with an Instant Pot.  If you haven’t gotten one, you should invest the money.  It’s the modern version of the old pressure cooker but it’s 100 times better. There are many manufacturers that make an “instant pot”.  Be sure to get the actual brand “INSTANT POT”.  It makes a difference.

Instant Pot

If you opt to go with the Instant Pot (IP), there is a cooking chart inside your booklet for the time to cook.  Follow that recommended time for your ham unless you will be using the IP slow cooker setting.

Slow Cooker

For the slow cooker, you will cook an 8lb ham 4-5 hours on low.  You can cook it longer if you wish.

Oven Baked

The rule of thumb is to cook your ham 20 minutes per 1 lb of meat.  This will keep your ham from drying out.

Tips

A few general tips before we get to the overall recipe.  These apply regardless to which way you choose to cook.

• When removing your ham from the plastic wrap, pat it dry with paper towels.  This helps prevent your ham from drying out during cooking.
• If you are baking your ham, be sure to cover it thoroughly.  Use aluminum foil and tent it to give it plenty of breathing room.  If there are open areas, the ham will dry out.
• If your ham is already flavored, be careful not to add too much additional flavoring.  Buy a regular spiral sliced ham and flavor it as you wish.
• Be sure to trim the ham if necessary so that it fits into your slow cooker or IP.

The Recipe:

• 8 lb bone-in spiral sliced half ham
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp Hometown Honey
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1/2 c Coca Cola™ soft drink
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• pinch of allspice

Mix butter and honey together.  Trim honey to fit nicely in either cooking pan, IP or slow cooker and place in appropriate cooker.  Massage butter mixture over the ham, getting it into the slices a bit.  Drizzle Coca-Cola™ over ham slowly, but not washing off honey mixture.  Cook for 4-5 hours on low in slow cooker or for time recommended by the IP setting.  For your oven pan, cover with aluminum foil, tenting the foil at the top and cook 20 mins per lb.

If you want to add a sweet, crispy topping on the ham, do the following:

1. At the end of the cooking time, preheat oven broiler to HIGH, and line a roasting pan with heavy duty aluminum foil.

2. Combine sugar, seasoned salt, onion powder, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, paprika and allspice in a small bowl.  Pat half of the sugar mixture over the top of the ham.

3. Broil for several minutes, until bubbly and caramelized, then remove from oven.

4. Add remaining sugar mixture to a small saucepan.  Add 3 Tbsp of  ham juices from bottom of the slow cooker. A combination of water/ham juice and pineapple juice is also a great choice!  Stir, and heat to a boil.  Boil for about a minute, then remove from heat.

5. Brush or pour glaze over the ham, then broil again for a minute or two (careful… don’t let it burn!).  Remove from oven and let ham rest for 5-10 minutes. The glaze will harden a bit more as it sits.

ENJOY!!!

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