Braised-Then-Baked Ham
- Total Time
- About 3 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cooked, bone-in “city ham,” whole or half, 8 to 12 pounds
- 3tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
- 1cup sliced carrots
- 1cup sliced onions
- Herb bundle of 12 parsley sprigs, 6 thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 12 peppercorns, 3 cloves, tied together in cheesecloth
- 1bottle dry white wine
- Glaze, optional
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Preparation
- Step 1
If there is tough skin covering the top of the ham, cut it off to expose the fat.
- Step 2
In a large, deep pot, heat butter or oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots and onions and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Step 3
Place the ham on the vegetables, fatty side up. Add herb bundle, wine and 1 quart water and bring to a simmer.
- Step 4
Cook for 2 to 3 hours at a bare simmer; baste with ladle every 20 minutes. After 2 hours, test with meat thermometer: ham is ready when internal temperature reaches 135 degrees. Turn off the heat.
- Step 5
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Drain ham, reserving cooking liquid to use for stock (it freezes well). Place ham on a rack in a roasting pan, fatty side up, and score fat in a diamond pattern with tip of sharp knife. If using glaze, brush it on now.
- Step 6
Place ham in oven; roast 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned. If using glaze, brush on more after first 10 minutes of cooking.
- Step 7
Remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest 20 to 30 minutes before carving.
Private Notes
Comments
Absolutely delicious! The meat was so moist and flavorful. Everyone at Easter dinner loved it. I wondered about the short roasting time, but 15-20 minutes with a glaze really does crisp the surface. I used a glaze of apricot preserves mixed with Dijon mustard (3:1 ratio), and when the dripping glaze and juices started to burn in the pan, poured some of the reserved broth into the bottom, and was left with a nice rich sauce to pour over the meat when serving. My go-to ham recipe from now on.
You live all your life hearing and believing that ham has to be roasted and then this recipe comes along and you just can't believe it until you cook it--on the stove! I never heard so many compliments around a table about plain old ham. Make sure to use your meat thermometer because, again, if you're like me, what you're doing is counter-intuitive. I used the glaze recommended by Laurie in the notes and it was easy and superb.
This is basically a trimmed down version of the Jambon a la Bourguignonne recipe from the Escoffier book. The original calls for a Prague ham which is a wet cured and lightly smoked ham. A spiral sliced or uncured ham will not work for this recipe; a cured, aka city ham, is needed for this recipe. It comes out tender and moist and aromatic. Braised in the oven for 3.5 hours @ 250F. Amazingly rich Glace' from the jus. Perfect for a holiday meal.
Every ham I have bought recently has been intolerably sweet - sugar, honey maple etc etc. The ham tastes too sweet and the reserved cooking liquid is not worth saving because there is too much sugar to use as a stock.
Why would this not work for a fresh ham, only a cured one? It seems like a perfectly valid braising technique that should work well either way.
This would definitely be a solid lower sodium choice.
A fresh ham is more like a pork roast than a cured ham (think pork tenderloin, but juicier and loads more flavor). You can certainly braise a fresh ham, although it's more often roasted so you get all that delicious gravy to drizzle over mashed potatoes. This recipe is good for a cured ham as it makes it much moister than if you only roasted it in the oven. It definitely won't work with a spiral cut ham. Remember, the definition of eternity is two people and a ham - cured or uncured!
I've used this recipe 4 or 5 times and it comes out great every time. Save the bone, the stock and some ham for spit pea soup.
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