City Ham

New Year's ended up being a 3 days feast at our place starting with a ham dinner on the 30th with friends & my parents. I planned to make a turkey but Matt said he'd been wanting to try this recipe from Alton Brown for awhile so I went with it.

I thought this recipe sounded a little out there with the ham coated in mustard, bourbon & crushed ginger snaps but man was it ever good. The glaze gave it a wonderful tangy, sweet flavor. Oh & the leftovers, heaven!

City Ham
from Alton Brown

1 ham (the kind that is brined & marked "ready to cook," "partially cooked" or "ready to serve")
2 c brown sugar
1/4 c brown mustard
bourbon (in a spray bottle)
2 c crushed ginger snaps (we ground them fine in the food processor)

Preheat oven to 250 F.

Rinse & drain ham throughly. Place cut side down in a roasting pan. Use a small knife to cut diamonds into the skin & first few layers of fat .

Tent with foil & insert a thermometer into the center of the ham. Bake for 3 -4 hours until the temperature registers 130 F. Use tongs to remove the diamonds of skin & fat that comes with it.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Dry the ham & them coat with the mustard.

Now cover with the brown sugar then spray the bourbon all over it.

Pack the as much of the ginger snaps as you can all over the ham.

Cook until thermometer reaches 140 F about 1 hour.

Let sit 1/2 hour before serving.


We served the ham with biscuits, mashed sweet potatoes & beans.
Now we've got a ham hock just calling out to make soup!