Grandma’s Glazed Hams
When I was younger, we always would have hams. It almost seemed like it was a once a month thing. It almost got to the point where I was sick and tired of it. And seriously… who can get sick of ham! I had some long lost relatives who lived in Georgia. I lived in New England, and just speaking to them on the phone was hard enough… they thought I had an accent, I knew they did.
Then one summer, my grandmother came up for a week. She was going on and on about how we eat terrible and need some southern-cooking. Whatever that meant… I was too young to understand that living down south was almost like living in another country.
So one day, my Grammie decided she was going to roast us up a “special” ham. The moment I saw her adding my coke to the ham, I knew something was up. Brushing, splashing, and playing with the mixture of spices made my curiosity start to run. After dinner, I was dieing for more. She made up her own Cola Glazed Ham, and I never have looked at a none glazed ham again. That was over 30 years ago, and still to this day, I love and play with different mixtures of Cola based mixes.
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Glazed Up Ham
Ham Glazes usually are either sweet so that they offset the taste of salty, yet sweet, flavors of ham. On the internet, you could find a ton of recipes, but even more in everyday cookbooks. If you use the usual glaze for your hams, you should try to change it up every once in a while to keep it fresh.
Usually, ham glazes focus on brown sugar, and people tend to mix in sweet spices. The usual products are apple sauce, orange juice, brown sugar, honey or even maple syrup, or maybe even a combination of them all. Cloves are used to add an extra kick to the glaze. I even have found interest in ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon!
What many people love and find interesting is a cola glaze. This unusual mixture mixes brown sugar, cola, mustard and cloves. For extra flavor, cover the ham in pineapples or cherries. In Germany, cherries are VERY common in cooking with meats.
I find that with a sugar based glaze, you can add all sorts of sweet spices to a ham. As with the cola glaze, mustard will take away some of the sugar kick, but many add mustard, pepper or chili to add to the flavor. Some other choices could be pineapple, lemon juice, orange juice, or sometimes vinegar. Cranberry Juice, or really any type of juice are a good way to go when cooking your cola glazed ham.
All in all, I find that the cola glaze is a way to add some fun into a usually good dish. Imagine your kids faces when they realize that the coke that they love is being added to the meat they are going to eat!
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