Who can resist honey-roasted ham? Not even Winnie the Pooh can!

A while back, I had blogged about my obsession with recreating pseudo home-cooked Southern comfort food from Cracker Barrel restaurant, and how I had successfully reproduced their Hash Brown Casserole menu item for my office potluck party with a copycat recipe.

Well, today I had decided to make that Hash Brown Casserole again… except this time, for my husband and I to eat at home (since there was nothing leftover last time, so Ian never had the chance to try it!). And it only made sense to pair the casserole with a baked ham… considering every time I visit Cracker Barrel, all I get is their Sugar Cured Ham.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com for a Honey Glazed Ham that can’t be beat! I mean, I’ve never baked a ham before in my life. But this recipe was easy enough to follow, and pretty much foolproof. The end result is a super juicy ham, with a glaze that’s the perfect level of tangy sweetness.

Before trying my hand at this recipe, I looked into a few websites with “How-Tos?” on baking a ham. For anyone interested in baking their own ham for the first time, here are some tips that I found useful…

Tips for baking a ham:

1. How to choose the “rawness” level of your ham? (as called for in the recipe)

>> Fully-cooked ham: Ready-to-eat ham without further cooking needed (i.e. ham that has been heated through to over 147°F)
>> Partially cooked ham: Ham that requires additional cooking (i.e. ham that has been heated through to over 137°F)
>> Uncooked ham: Ham that requires cooking to eat (i.e. ham that has not been heated prior to purchase)
>> Boiled ham: Read-to-eat ham that has been boned, cured and cooked via boiling, without further cooking needed

2. How to choose the right “cut” for your ham? (as called for in the recipe)

>> Whole ham: Cut of ham that includes BOTH butt ham and shank ham from the pig’s leg (i.e. 10 to 20 lb cut of ham, bone-in or boneless)
>> Butt ham: “Fattier” and “meatier” cut of ham (vs. shank ham) taken from top half of pig’s leg, and is easier to carve but costs more (i.e. 3 to 4 lb cut of ham, bone-in)
>> Shank ham: Less “fatty” and less “meaty” cut of ham (vs. butt ham) taken from bottom half of pig’s leg, and is harder to carve but “sweeter” in taste (i.e. 3 to 4 lb cut of ham, bone-in)
>> Spiral sliced ham: Precooked ham that has been pre-sliced in a spiral/continuous cut

3. How much ham should you make?

>> Basic ham math: When calculating the amount of ham you’ll need to serve your party, account for 1/2 lb of ham per person (with plenty remaining for leftovers!)

4. How to “score” your ham, and decorate by adding cloves to your ham?

>> Scoring your ham (allows glaze to penetrate the meat): Score your ham by making diagonal cuts to the fat layer along the rounded surface of the ham, followed by diagonal cuts in the opposite direction (i.e. forming diamond shapes)
>> Adding whole cloves for decorative purposes: Insert a whole clove into the middle of each diamond for decoration



It's customary to score a ham with diamond-shaped patterns to allow the glaze to penetrate the meat. One should also decorate the ham by sticking a whole clove into the middle of each diamond.

5. How long should you bake your ham? (temperatures based on USDA’s food safety and inspection service standards; times based on baking in a 325°F oven)

>> Fresh ham (uncooked): Fresh ham MUST reach an internal temperature of 160°F (for 12 to 16 lb whole leg bone-in fresh ham, bake for 22 to 26 minutes per lb; for 10 to 14 lb whole leg boneless fresh ham, bake for 24 to 28 minutes per lb; for 5 to 8 lb half leg bone-in fresh ham, bake for 35 to 40 minutes per lb)
>> Partially cooked ham: If baking a “cook-before-eating” ham, the internal temperature SHOULD reach 140°F (for 10 to 14 lb whole leg bone-in partially cooked ham, bake for 18 to 20 minutes per lb; for 5 to 7 lb half leg bone-in partially cooked ham, bake for 22 to 25 minutes per lb; for 3 to 4 lb shank or butt cut bone-in partially cooked ham, bake for 35 to 40 minutes per lb)
>> Cooked ham (reheating only): If reheating a cooked ham, the internal temperature SHOULD reach 140°F (for 10 to 14 lb whole leg bone-in cooked ham, bake for 15 to 18 minutes per lb; for 5 to 7 lb half leg bone-in cooked ham, bake for 18 to 24 minutes per lb; for 7 to 9 lb spiral cut whole or half leg cooked ham, bake for 10 to 18 minutes per lb)

6. How to glaze your ham?


Another hilarious comic strip pertaining to the topic of glazed hams (who knew so many existed!)

>> Preparing the ham glaze: Whether you’re preparing a honey glaze, a maple glaze, a brown sugar glaze, or a pineapple glaze, you’ll need to mix all the ingredients from your ham glaze together in an oven-safe bowl (to be kept heated in the oven on the top rack as your ham bakes on the bottom rack)
>> Basting the ham with your glaze: To keep your ham moist, not only do you need to brush the glaze over your ham before you stick it in the oven, but you’ll also need to re-brush the ham all over with the extra glaze from your oven-safe bowl every 10 to 15 minutes
>> Never baste your ham with drippings from your roasting pan: Always baste with glaze from your oven-safe bowl, and NOT from the glaze that dripped from your ham to the bottom of the pan (since the dripped glaze will be excessively salty)!
>> Caramelize your ham glaze: To caramelize your ham glaze, turn on the broiler during the last 4 to 5 minutes of baking our ham

Without further ado, here is the foolproof Honey Glazed Ham recipe that I would recommend all beginner ham bakers try!

Image Sources: Comic strips courtesy of OffTheMark.com by Mark Parisi, Words and Toons by Chuck Ingwersen.
Images used in the scoring/decorating ham photo collage courtesy of BHG.com, a title=”Official website of Danish Schnapps recipes” href=”http://www.danish-schnapps-recipes.com/” target=”_blank”>Danish-Schnapps-Recipes.com & BrennansMarket.com.