Easter nostalgia conjures up memories of egg hunts, baskets of candy, and glazed ham studded with canned pineapple slices and maraschino cherries, which inspired us to revisit classic Americana foods and update them with a global twist. We have created a modernized Madmen-era recipe that is familiar yet fresh. Some things, however, are perfect the way they are, so we will happily serve a ‘50s dry martini to toast the holiday and its announcement of spring. Here is the recipe for Curried Glazed Ham.
Curried Glazed Ham
Easter without glazed ham is like Thanksgiving without turkey – pure blasphemy. We have used pineapple juice as the base of the glaze as an ode to the past but added curry and cloves to keep it from being too sweet.
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients
8–10 cloves
3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup light molasses
1/2 tablespoons curry powder
One whole, bone-in smoked 14-pound ham
Directions
Preheat oven to 325˚F. Remove the skin and most fat from the ham using a sharp knife. Score remaining fat and pierce ham with cloves. Place ham, fat-side up, in a large roasting pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 2 1/2 hours.
Raise oven temperature to 375˚F. In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup of pineapple juice. Cook on medium-high heat and, when reduced by half, add sugar and molasses. Stir well. Remove from heat and mix in curry. Rub glaze mixture over ham and place back in roasting pan. Add 2 cups pineapple juice to the pan. Bake for another 1 1/2 hours, basting occasionally, until the thickest part of the ham registers 155˚F on a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.
