Easter Tuesday Ham

History

When we’ve written about historic Easter culinary traditions in the past, we’ve often mentioned how many of the meals consumed in the days following Jesus’ resurrection incorporate foods that weren’t eaten during the Lenten fast. While sweets of every shape and size certainly fit this bill, so do juicy and savory meats! Many traditional meat dishes are central to Easter eating, and the Easter ham is certainly one of them.

Whether serving ham for dinner or brunch on Easter or the next few days of celebration, this main dish is a popular choice for Easter meals for a few reasons. One reason for why this meat became an Easter custom is that it was often readily available during this time of year. Historically, pigs were slaughtered in the fall and then cured over the winter. When the winter snows finally melted and the Lenten fast ended, the ham was ready to eat! Although making ham for Easter isn’t a tradition that stretches as far back as preparing and eating an Easter lamb, ham has still been a culinary custom of this holy day for many centuries.

Further, lamb being served as the main course for Easter and the following celebratory days was a custom that stemmed from the Middle East and the Jewish tradition surrounding Passover. As the Christian Church began to adopt its own culinary lineage surrounding this day and moved away from eating traditional Passover foods, ham became a great alternative. While Jews don’t eat pork and Jesus certainly wouldn’t have during his earthly ministry, this food reminds Christians of the abrogation of the law of Moses since Christ’s death and resurrection—another reason why this meat dish is appropriate for this liturgical season!

Easter Ham

Keeping with the custom of Easter being a time of freely and joyfully enjoying foods that weren’t consumed during the Lenten fast, ham is the perfect meat entree that combines both sweet and savory flavors. Many recipes call for a honey glaze over the top of the meat, and some other renditions will serve the ham with especially sweet toppings such as brown sugar and jam or fruits such as pineapple and cherries. Other types of glazes are more savory, incorporating spices and smoky flavors.

For the recipe that we made for you today, we decided to combine a couple of methods, making a glaze with butter, honey, brown sugar, and spices. However, if don’t want a super sweet meat, you could alternatively go with another glaze listed below that uses brown mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Either way, your Easter ham would be lovely accompanied by scalloped potatoes, spring asparagus, and a fresh Mediterranean salad. Bon appetit!

Sweet Glaze

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup honey

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

4 cloves garlic

Savory Glaze

Ingredients

2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 ½ teaspoon mustard powder

Instructions

1. For either ham recipe, preheat the oven to 300°F, take the ham out of the fridge, and trim away the rind. Let it rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
2. Score a 1-inch-wide and ¼-inch-deep diamond pattern over the entire ham. Place the ham in a baking tray and pour 1/3 cup of water into the base of the pan. Cover the ham with two pieces of foil or parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile make either of your glazes. For the sweet glaze, heat the butter in a small pot or saucepan over medium heat until golden brown. Add in the brown sugar, honey, mustard, cinnamon, and cloves, stirring to mix together well until the brown sugar has completely dissolved (about 2 minutes). Reduce heat and add in the garlic, browning it slightly. Set the glaze aside and let cool to lukewarm and until it is honey consistency.
4. For the savory glaze, you simply whisk together the ingredients.
5. After the ham has baked for 30 minutes, remove it from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 425°F. Discard the foil or parchment paper and pour 1/3 of the glaze all over the ham, brushing in between the cuts to evenly cover. Return to the oven and bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven, brush with another third of the glaze and some of the pan juices, and put it back in the oven. Repeat again after 15 more minutes of baking until a dark golden-brown crust has formed (about 30 minutes total). Let the ham rest 10-20 minutes before slicing.