"Ham, man!"

I love a good ham. There are so many bad ham examples out there, (You know what I am talking about…those honey baked, spiral sliced, grey looking “hams” that are sold everywhere for every occasion), we have almost reached the point where we have forgotten what good ham tastes like.

I love a good cured and smoked Virginia ham. The flavor of a country (salty) ham is strong and robust. I am fortunate that there is a market here on the west side of Cleveland that carries slices of Virginia ham and I can enjoy it for breakfast on the occasional Saturday morning.

For the holidays I like to fix my own city (sweet) ham. There is one that I like in particular. It’s the Triple M ‘Budaball’ Whole Ham. Triple M is a brand of Kayem Foods based in Chelsea, MA. If you have a BJ’s Wholesale Club near you they will order you one. They are about $2.99lb but worth every penny.

I saw the recipe 10 years ago in a cooking magazine and made it my own. I cook the FRESH ham uncovered in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on a meat thermometer - and during the last hour I glaze it three times with a mixture of:

1 jar Dijon mustard
1 jar of orange marmalade
1 cup of dark brown sugar

Stir those three ingredients together well and in the last hour cover the ham with the glaze at least twice to develop a crunchy, chewy, sweet coating. Let the ham sit for about 30 minutes after you take it from the oven and then carve away. Yum!

I am still trying to recover from the holidays. I lost some sleep somewhere and I have not been able to find it.

Limited television I am watching these days: NBC: Heroes and My Name Is Earl. Discovery: Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters. HBO: ROME season two starts January 14th and I am really looking forward to it. SCI FI: Battlestar Gallactica

On my iPod this morning on the bus: Al Green, The Temptations and Parliament Funkadelic.

Movies I still want to see at the theater: The Good Shepherd, Night at the Museum and We are Marshall.