Recipe: Baked Ham

BAKED HAM

1 uncooked but smoked ham
whole cloves
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 cup fine soft bread crumbs
thinly sliced pineapple
maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to slow (300 degrees). Place ham under cold running water and scrub the rind well with a stiff brush. Dry the ham and place it in a roasting pan with skin and fat side up. Insert meat thermometer through fat side into thickest part of the ham. Bake the ham uncovered 23 minutes per pound or until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 on a meat thermometer. (If ham weights over 12 pounds, seventeen minutes per pound should be sufficient. When in doubt, go by internal temperature).

When the ham is done, remove it from the oven and using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, cut away skin and all but 1/4-1/8-inch of the fat. Score the fat diagonally, forming diamond shapes. Stud ham with a clove in center of each diamond. Brush with orange juice. Mix brown sugar and dry mustard and bread crumbs. Press onto ham all over. Arrange pineapple slices on top of ham, anchor with toothpicks. Put a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple ring. Increase oven to 400 degrees. Return ham to oven and bake until crust forms and pineapple slices begin to brown around the edges. Let stand 30 minutes before carving. Serves 10