Believe it or not it is Christmas time at Old Yankee Cutting Boards. The whole family came home this past weekend to celebrate a “cookbook” Christmas. The house was festooned with the Christmas spirit including a fully decorated tree ( yes, I know that it is March) as we created a Felides family Christmas for the cameras. You can’t guess why? We gathered to cook and photograph our favorite Christmas dishes and traditions for a soon to be released cookbook coauthored by our son Trapper Felides and Helen Kimmel.
One of the recipes was for Dean’s Maine Christmas Ham which of course was carved on a beautiful Old Yankee Pro Cutting Board. With Easter just around the corner, we are giving you a sneak preview of this recipe . As Mikey says “Try it , you’ll like it”. For a spring twist, you can substitute 2 tbsp of a spicy brown or horseradish mustard or 1 tsp dry mustard for the fresh rosemary.
Dean’s Maine Christmas Ham
Fresh ham shank ( a pit or Virginia ham will also do) @ 9 lbs
1 10 oz jar of apricot jam ( you can substitute the flavor of your choice but I would suggest that you shy away from a dark fruit choice such as blackberry or blueberry. Sugar free will also do or you can also use a chutney)
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 packed tablespoon brown sugar
2 tsp fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp ground pepper
whole cloves
Place ham fat side up on rack in shallow pan at 325*. Score fat into a diamond pattern. Cover tightly with foil and bake about 2 hrs. or until internal temperature is about 130*.
Meanwhile in a saucepan combine all other ingredients and cook until liquefied and mixed well.
Remove ham from oven and stud the ham with cloves. Slowly pour 1/2 of mixture over the ham to cover nicely. Pour @ 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook ham uncovered to internal temperature of 150*.
You have 2 options for the rest of the glaze mixture. You can either continue to baste the ham with the rest of the mixture until the ham reaches a temperature of 150* or you can reserve the second 1/2 of the mixture and use as a glaze at the table.
“Table” glaze:
Once the ham is removed from the oven, remove the ham to a platter or a cutting board. Put the ham pan over a burner on the stove and while adding the remaining glaze mixture scrape up all of the delicious brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until well mixed. Pour the mixture into a container and skim off fat. Serve with ham.
While you are celebrating spring , why not surprise your sweetie with a new Old Yankee cutting board to carve his or her specialty on ? Or maybe an Old Yankee small signature board for a truly unique appetizer or cheese display .