Author Notes
Sadly my husband is allergic to mustard so when it comes to ham, he tends to steer clear, unless at home. My mother is British and I remember having "Hot Ham" with raisin sauce--delicious, but not exactly tongue-tingling! Therefore, early into my marriage I came up with a middle-of-the-road Hot Ham, sneaking in horse-radish as the tongue-tingler. Haven't done it in years but this was how we did it as a "young couple". —Veronica
Ingredients
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4-5 pounds
fresh ham
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8 ounces
Black Currant jelly
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1 to 2 cups
Port
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1/2-1 cups
dark raisins
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1 pinch
White horse radish
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2
Garlic medium cloves, minced
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6
Whole cloves
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1 tablespoon
Whole black peppercorns
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1/4 cup
Sour (Seville) Orange or Meyer lemon juice
Directions
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In a small saucepan over low heat, "melt" the currant jelly. Add the Port, raisins, horse radish, garlic, cloves, peppercorns and juice. Stir and bring to the slightest of a simmer. Remove from heat. Let sit while you do next step. This can be (and is much better) done way ahead of time, but will need to be warmed again before coating the ham.
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Wipe Ham with a damp tea towel or paper towel, then cut away surface fat until no more than 1/4 inch thick. Score fat in any design you wish. I prefer no pattern but, whatever...
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Place Ham in a roasting pan not too much bigger than the meat (you want the glaze and ham juices to collect, not get baked dry) and slather the thing with the Port/Juice mixture. Shove the raisins and cloves into the score marks. Put in a pre-heated 375 degree oven and baste every 10-12 minutes or so. It should be cooked through in 40-50 minutes. Remember, the ham is already cooked so it's getting the glaze right that you want.
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Remove the ham from the oven, rest and then tent with tinfoil until you are ready to serve. If there is still a lot of liquid "glaze" in the roasting pan, pour into that same small saucepan, reduce and pour over ham just before carving.. Serve with any of the additions you like with Ham--for us, ALAS, no mustard!
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