HOLIDAY HAM WITH PINEAPPLE DIJON GLAZE
4 cups pineapple juice
1 tablespoon ginger paste or 1” peeled ginger root, sliced thin
1 generous tablespoon minced garlic
1 bone-in smoked fully cooked ham, 7-9 pounds
Whole cloves
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 (20-ounce) can pineapple slices in juice, drained
Maraschino cherries, halved
Preheat oven to 325.
Stir together first 3 ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 25 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Pour mixture through a strainer into a bowl.
Remove skin and excess fat from ham. Make 1/4-inch-deep cuts in a diamond pattern, and insert cloves at 1-inch intervals. Place ham in roasting pan. Don’t use too big of a pan or you won’t get drippings.
Spread Dijon mustard evenly over ham. Pat brown sugar on top of the mustard. Pour pineapple juice mixture into pan around ham.
Arrange pineapple and cherries evenly over mustard layer on ham; secure with toothpicks.
Bake for 1 hour. Shield with aluminum foil after 1 hour to prevent excess browning, and bake an additional hour or so until a meat thermometer inserted registers 140°, basting every 30 minutes with pan juices. Let stand 20 minutes while you remove fat from drippings and then bring them to a boil in a saucepan to serve with the ham.