Plum Sauce Glazed Ham

Generally speaking, I don’t care for glazed ham, but THIS ham with plum sauce? A cut of ham like this deserves particular recognition.

A few weeks ago, my father was attempting to perfect a sour plum duck recipe, and we were left with an extra jar of plum sauce. Naturally, this got my brain working just as I was beginning to consider Christmas menus. It’s true, this Glazed ham is ideal for Christmas dinner and will inspire us to try new things with the leftovers.

Like its name implies, the plum sauce has a sugary taste. However, it also has a strong, almost acidic undertone. Open the bottle with caution and take a whiff of the contents to see (smell?) what I mean. It reminded me of the many online recipes for holiday glazed ham that I’ve seen.

There is typically both a sweet (brown sugar, honey, etc.) and a sour component for contrast. Both of these flavors can be found in plum sauce, which makes it an excellent complement to fatty meats like duck (and, surprisingly, ham). Alternatively, if you like a more subtle flavor, plum jam can be used in place of plum sauce to create a glaze.

A simpler ham glaze recipe would be hard to find than this one. You need only pick up some spiral ham with the bone in it and a glaze made from the plum sauce, honey, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and five spice powder. Typical festive spices like cloves and cinnamon can be found in five-spice powder. The ham is glazed while it reheats, as is customary. Easy.

I think that’s enough rambling from me. Okay, let’s get in the kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE HAM:

• 1 spiral sliced of bone-in half ham
• 2/3 cup of plum sauce
• ¼ cup of honey
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon of five spice powder

FOR THE POTATOES:

• 3 lbs of scrubbed and cut into chunks Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 chopped scallions
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Warm the ham in a roasting pan, flat side down, covered tightly with foil as directed on the package. Glaze can be prepared by combining plum sauce, honey, soy sauce, dijon mustard, and five-spice powder.
2. Take the ham out of the oven 30 minutes before it’s done, and spread it all over with the glaze. Cook the final 30 minutes uncovered, basting the ham with additional glaze halfway through.
3. Meanwhile, drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper (but not too much! Salty soy sauce will be added afterward.
4. For even browning, toss the potatoes around halfway through the 45-minute roasting time. Mix the potatoes with melted butter, scallions, and soy sauce. Serve alongside the ham!
5. It is recommended that you use a double oven for this dish, but if you only have one oven, you may still make it work by letting the ham rest, covered, after baking.
6. To pass the time, roast the potatoes; then, when everything is done, dish them all together and serve the Plum Sauce Glazed Ham!