Andie's Original Recipe for
WPOPFHBH* Ham
*Why Pay Outrageous Prices For Honey Baked Ham

Andie Paysinger - asenji@themall.net
"Following is the ham recipe I developed originally for cooking "dry-cured" hams from my family's farm in Kentucky. These are usually quite salty as they are pre-cured in a barrel of salt before being hung in the smoke house. People in the south like saltier ham than folks out here so I experimented until I discovered this way of cooking them which actually extracts a lot of the salt. Then I discovered that very cheap store hams also come out nicely flavored when cooked this way. I always warn people to keep the heat low and the time long - as one doesn't get the same results with more heat and less time. I have cooked this for a lot of people and told quite a few people who have used this method and have yet to find anyone who has not found this to be just about the best ham ever."

This recipe (or cooking method) works really well with the absolute cheapest bone-in ham, the holiday "Loss Leaders" at 49, 59, cents a pound, sometimes less. DON'T GET THE SHANK END

For a 12 to 15 pound ham you will NEED the following:

A deep roasting pan, dutch oven or deep baking dish just big enough for the ham to fit into with enough room to let you turn it over.

An Ice Pick! This is very important!!!

Maple syrup - I find it at Trader Joes a specialty discout grocery chain here in Calif. or at Price/Costco and at Smart & Final. I am sure there is a similar source in your area. I usually buy a quart and use most of it.

Dry mustard, (Colemans) about 2 tablespoons.

Optional - Whole cloves to stick in the ham but not necessary.

1. Trim any skin off the ham but leave some of the fat, - less than 1/4 inch thickness. Score the fat down to the meat in a diamond or tic-tac-toe pattern, your choice.

2. Take the ice pick and stab the ham all over, and I mean many, many stabs. Use up some of your latent agression.

3. Take the dry mustard and massage it into the ham. If you must, stick whole cloves into the ham, as many as you want.

4. Put the ham in the pot. Pour in the maple syrup until it comes up at least 1/2 way on the ham, a little more won't hurt, it won't be going to waste.

5. Place the ham in a COLD oven and turn the temp control to 300 degrees F. Set timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes reduce heat to 250. and turn the ham over in the syrup.

6. Continue cooking for 3 hours for a 12 pound ham, add 30 minutes for each 2 pounds over that, turning the ham every 30 minutes. This is a long, slow method that will have remarkable results.

7. At the end of the baking time, remove ham from pot, allow to drain on a rack for 20 minutes then slice.

Most of the salt in the ham will have been extracted through the stab wounds and the meat will have absorbed some of the maple flavor from the syrup.

When the liquid left in the pot has cooled, strain it through a coffee filter and freeze it, you can use it two more times. After that it loses a bit of flavor or becomes too salty.