Bourbon Glazed & Cookie Encrusted Ham

In the midst of making Sam's birthday cake and frying a 15 pound turkey (recipe forthcoming), I made sure to put even more meat on the table: HAM.  I've never actually roasted a ham before and this is the first one.  Yet, I have fabulous memories of family cooking ham during the holidays, and I always wanted to try cooking a giant loaf of well, pig's meat.

So, when you've never done anything in the kitchen before, who do you turn to? EASY.  Alton Brown. Alton is like the father of cooking--he explains how everything works, the science behind "everything," and couples some fantastic recipes with his didactic-style cooking show.  I caught the episode he did on hams--"Ham I Am"--a few months ago and this particular recipe stood out: not only was a delicious city ham packed with brown sugar and mustard, but a ham spritzed with Bourbon and graham cracker cookies on top. What's not to love? If you buy the ham pre-cooked, in natural juices, and yes, spiral cut, the below recipe is easy, fast, and clearly delicious.






Bourbon Glazed & Cookie Encrusted Ham 
This recipe comes from Alton Brown over at Food Network and can be found here.  Alton's recipe is brilliant--take a fantastic roast of ham, cover it in a brown mustard, brown sugar, bourbon, and graham crackers and OH MY GOD.  It's soo good.  I've made no changes to the recipe below and I can promise that it is a huge hit.  One important note though: this calls for a "city" ham and after preparing this recipe, I've discovered that not all hams are the same.  Some have water added, some are cooked in natural juices, and some are just processed meat packed on a bone.  To insure that you don't fall into the latter category, check out Alton's episode "Ham I Am" from Good Eats to clarify that you're getting the best ham for your dinner table.

* 1 city style ham (brined, hock end)
* brown sugar, enough for sprinkling over ham (about 2 cups)
* Bourbon bottle & spray spout, 1 ounce
* 2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies

NOTE: The following recipe is part II of Alton's recipe.  Why? Well, I bought a pre-cooked ham (saves you A LOT OF TIME).  For an uncooked ham, check Alton's direct recipe for the first few steps.

1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  Remove ham from packaging, rinse, and dab with a paper towel to remove excess water, oil, or fat.  Place on a roasting pan and brush with a liberal coat of brown mustard.

2.) Sprinkle on brown sugar and press in to stick as much as possible.

3.) Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon.  Laugh at your Jim Beam spritzer bottle.  Proceed....

4.) Pack on as many of the crushed cookies as you can manage.  Make sure to cover the whole surface area.

5.) Tent the ham with tin foil (don't wrap fully, but "tent" loosely, and cook for 1 hour, or until the inside temperature is 140F.

6.) Let roast rest for 15 minutes until serving.  If cooking an uncarved roast that was not pre-cooked, allow to rest for 30 minutes before carving.  Enjoy!


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