Hello Friends,
What glorious spring weather we have been having. Flowers are popping up, birds are singing, and the sun has graced us with its magnificent presence. This can only mean one thing: Spring has sprung…it’s ham season ya’all! There are two ham seasons in my house…Christmas and Easter are two very different affairs. Christmas ham is heavily flavored with warming spices, and Easter is brighter, lighter, and even more delicious. And while sometimes lamb finds its way on our Easter menu, ham is what my family wants. And, I am here for it!
I have a long history with ham; it was always served growing up for both Christmas and Easter, and while these holidays aren’t holy in my family, they are a time to bring family together and share a special meal. My all-time favorite activity: getting my kids around the table to eat and share stories.
Easter has ancient roots tied to the Spring Equinox and the goddess Ostara, the goddess of spring, and I resonate with the cycles of time based on sun and moon cycles. This is the time of renewal, rebirth, and fertility represented with eggs and rabbits, so why ham? Well, it comes down to religion, money, and accessibility…like everything else in most cultures. Lamb was eaten until the mid-20th century, but the popularity of wool for clothing started to wane, and the need for sheep decreased, so there was less lamb available to adorn your table. Hogs were cheaper to raise and could be purchased in larger quantities; not only this, but they could be slaughtered in the fall and cured over winter, making them ready to eat just in time for Easter. And, we get the benefit of this amazingly delicious cured meat.
I have made ham many different ways, spiced, apricot glazed, herbed fresh ham, simply warmed, but the favorite at my house is an old-school, might I say retro, ham that is glazed with a pineapple-brown sugar mixture, and studded with fresh pineapple and maraschino cherries…YUM! The perfect amount of hot sauce makes it sweet and jammy and gives it a little kick. The ham you won’t find on my table is a spiral cut; they dry out too fast, and tend to miss the nice and juicy fat cap.
I first had a version of this pineapple-glazed ham at Girl Scout camp. Every summer, I would go to a week-long sleepover camp with my Girl Scout troop, and we would ride horses, swim in lakes, sing songs around a campfire, all the delightful things that should be done at camp as a youth. One summer at camp, we did an overnight canoe trip across the lake our camp was on, and slept in tents instead of our cabins. We cooked baked potatoes and pineapple-glazed ham over an open campfire. My mind was blown, and I was so excited that I went home and cooked the same meal for my family.
Over the years, I forgot about that recipe, as I sampled other ham recipes, but about five years ago, I came across a pineapple-glazed ham in a magazine. I wish I could tell you which magazine I adopted this recipe from, but alas, I do not know. I ripped the page out as one does, and the magazine name is nowhere to be found. Just know this recipe was not developed by me, but that does not diminish the deliciousness.
Not only is ham tasty, and ham + pineapple is a match made in heaven, but ham is such an easy and impressive meal to make for a crowd. Even if I am hosting a small group, which is my preference, I’m still making a 10-lb bone-in ham because the leftovers are where it’s at. Ham goes with so many things, it’s great in quiche, the star of split-pea soup, I love it in pasta with peas, and the best gift you can give yourself is to make ham broth with the leftover bone, then you have deliciousness waiting to add to any soups or pasta sauces!!!
In honor of my first pineapple-glazed ham, and because I like to free up oven space, this ham gets baked on your grill, but could also be done in a standard oven.
This makes me hungry for ham. Yum!