Noche Buena Glazed Ham
For the ham:
1 bone-in, spiral cut, fully-cooked ham
Preheat your oven to 250˚F. Unwrap ham and remove any glaze packet(s). You can discard the packet(s) or save for another use. Place the ham on a roasting rack, fitted over a roasting pan. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place the ham in the oven for 90-120 minutes to begin gently heating. Make my glaze while the ham heats through.
After the glaze is made and the ham has been heating, carefully remove the ham from the oven and brush generously with the glaze. Cover again and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Repeat this process 1-2 more times to your liking. On the final brush, raise the oven temperature to 300˚F brush the ham with the glaze and cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Serve the ham topped with caramelized pineapple and any additional glaze on the side.
For the glaze:
2½ cups fresh pineapple juice (you can make your own by pureeing fresh pineapple chunks)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 clove
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 each thyme sprigs
3 tablespoons butter
Combine all ingredients except for butter in a pan and cook over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Once the glaze has thickened, swirl in the butter and whisk to stir to combine.
Caramelized pineapple:
3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup brown sugar
1 pineapple, peeled, hard center removed, cut in 1 to ½-inch thick rings
1 ounce rum
Heat the butter and brown sugar in a sauté pan with a large surface area. You can slightly shingle the pineapple slices to fit more in the pan but everything should fit in a single layer, more or less. Add as many pineapple slices as you can fit into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on one side them carefully flip over. Cook for 1 more minute then add the rum. Be careful as the mixture will flame up if you’re cooking over gas or an open flame. Allow the flame to burn off and the rum to reduce into the glaze. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.