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Main-Pork/Ham: Good Eats City Ham

Source of Recipe

Alton Brown, Good Eats


List of Ingredients

1 brined ham, hock end
1/4 cup brown mustard
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 ounce bourbon, poured into spray bottle
2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies



Recipe

Heat oven to 250ºF. Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly. Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If youre using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once youve made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don't worry too much about precision here.)

Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130ºF. Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them. Heat oven to 350ºF. Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint).

Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can. Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140ºF, approximately 1 hour. Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.

*Cooks note: A city ham is basically any brined ham thats packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked "ready to cook", "partially cooked" or "ready to serve". Better city hams are also labeled "ham in natural juices". Makes 10-15 portions