Honey baked ham

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Traveler

Cook
Joined
Sep 19, 2018
Messages
72
Location
Tijuana
I have some bone-in smoked hams that I have not yet baked, Waiting for the holidays.

Question: I want to minimize the smoked flavor and maximize the honey and whole cloves flavor. Should I place the ham in a brine to lessen the smoky flavor ? Some other method ?
 
Last edited:
If the ham was smoked whole, the smoke only penetrated the first half inch, at best. That's as deep as smoke will penetrate that meat. Unless the ham was injected with liquid smoke, you shouldn't have to worry about overpowering smoke.

I definitely would NOT brine a cooked ham. A smoked ham is a cooked ham. When you bake it, you are just bringing the internal temperature up to the desired level -- don't over bake it, or you will dry it out. The baking also forms your glaze.

CD
 
Last edited:
Brining it will probable make it too salty. If really desperate you could try soaking it in plain cold water before baking it. Not sure if it would work on the smoke.

As for the honey and cloves, if you think soaking would take some of those flavourings. you can spread honey on the skin and push cloves into the joints of the diagonal slashed in the skin.

I suppose there's a chance that just cooking it will disperse some of the smokiness and I'd probably do that.
 
Smoke is water-soluble (liquid smoke is smoke condensed into water), so soaking in water will remove some of the flavor. To notch up the flavors you want, I would brush it with honey with a little ground clove mixed in toward the end of the cooking time. Don't add it too soon as honey burns easily. You could also serve it with a honey-mustard sauce.
 
I thought this thread was about "Honey Baked Ham". My bad. I love it BTW.
Its expensive, but better than homemade (if served cold) and much easier.
 
I have some bone-in smoked hams that I have not yet baked, Waiting for the holidays.

Question: I want to minimize the smoked flavor and maximize the honey and whole cloves flavor. Should I place the ham in a brine to lessen the smoky flavor ? Some other method ?

To reduce the smoked flavor, especially if it is a smokehouse ham, you will need to boil it to remove the excess salt, and some of the smokey flavor. The honey and cloves can be brushed onto the ham before baking.

If you have a wet-cured ham, again, a little boiling will remove some of the salt and smoky flavor. Make a broth of honey, water, and cloves. Inject this all through the ham before baking. Use the honey broth as a glaze to baste the ham skin for extra flavor on the skin.

If you have a spiral-sliced ham, try this. Combine honey and a coarse mustard. Brush all over and between slices. Bake or cook on the grill between a divided bed of charcoal. I have a daughter that didn't like ham. I made that spiral ham and she changed her mind.

Another way of diluting the smoke flavor is to cook the ham with a fruity coating, or injecting juice into the ham. Good flavors for this are apple, pineapple, and cherry. They all work wonderfully with the ham flavor.

There once was a young girl who asked her mom why she cut the end off of the ham before baking it. Her mother said she did it because her mother always did it. The youngster went to her grandmother and asked the same question. She got the same answer from her grandmother, that that was how great grandma did it. The child asked great grandma, "Why do you cut the ends off of the ham before"baking it"? The great grandmother answered; "Because that'ts the only way I could get it to fit in the pan."

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
I thought this thread was about "Honey Baked Ham". My bad. I love it BTW.
Its expensive, but better than homemade (if served cold) and much easier.

There's a "honey baked ham" store around here that's famous for their spiraled cut hams. They get a lot of business around the
holidays. Sooo good. I think they use piano wire to cut it so spiraled. :LOL:
 
Last edited:
Yes, spiral honey baked hams are delicious. No question about that, but I want to do my own ham. I'll just have to special order a fresh ham if necessary.
 
Back
Top Bottom