Maple Mustard Ham for Easter

For the first time in years, we did not go to my sister's house to celebrate Easter with family. There have been so many unsettling things going around here and none of us were up to straying too far from home this time so we decided to hang around the house and have dinner with The Neighbours, which is always a treat. Our upstairs neighbours are moving out after many, many years and it will be the last official building dinner which made it a bit sad but we are all exited for them as they go off on their next adventure and save up for a house of their own - in fact, they have promised to have all of us for dinner next Easter at their new house and we all look forward to that (although The Neighbours and I are bringing all the food because we love her dearly but cooking is not one of her strong suits).

They made a delicious turkey,  all the sides and provided their beautiful home. The Upstairs Neighbours made up the table and decorated, complete with names on place cards and napkin rings and I was to bake the ham and make dessert, which was an incredible Pavlova of doom. Making it almost killed me but it was worth it so you should go have a look for yourself.

Anyway, I don't really bake ham myself. Hams are just too big for the three of us and when we do ham at my sisters, I whip up a glaze and hand it off to either Shack, who cooks it on the bbq or my sister who bakes it in the oven. This was the first time, at least in years, that I have baked a big, bone in ham myself.

The Neighbours generously provided the ham so I just had to come up with a glaze and cook it. The glaze was really great, not too sweet and a perfect compliment to the mildly salty ham - the ham itself was really nice - quite lean, not too salty and it stayed really moist and tender. I am making pea soup with the bone so stay tuned for that since it will most likely be my next post either here or on The Yum Yum Factor

Baked Ham with Honey Mustard Maple Glaze
3 tbls Kozlik's Lime and Honey Mustard
3 tbls maple syrup
3 tbls melted butter
tbls fresh thyme
about 10 grinds of black pepper

3.26 kg Boneless Ham


Take the ham out of the fridge and let it sit out until it comes to room temperature, for at least an hour and up to 2 hours, depending on how big your ham is and how cold you have kept it.
 Mix all of the glaze ingredients together and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325F
Put the ham, cut side down, on a rack in a roasting pan. If there is any fat on the outside, score it. Use about 1/3 of the glaze to coat the ham - I use a pastry brush. Put it in the oven and cook it for about 1 1/5 to 2 hrs. During the last hour, start basting it with the glaze. If, at any time, the glaze starts to look like it's getting burnt, cover the ham with a loose tent of foil. Basically, the ham is already cooked but you want to get it nice and hot so the internal temperature should be around 110 to 120F
When it's done, remove the ham from the oven, baste it with the pan drippings, cover loosely with foil and let it sit about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.