The legendary HoneyBaked Ham plus recipes

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Harry J. Hoenselaar, who? You may never have heard of him, but chances are good you’ve benefited from his contributions to the world of food. In the 1930s, Hoenselaar developed a unique process for curing, smoking, and cooking ham that produced a sweet, crunchy crust, but his ingenuity did not stop there. With such sophisticated materials as an old carving knife, a jack, the motor from a washing machine, and scrap wood, he produced the first spiral slicing machine for which he was later granted the patents. In 1957 he opened his first store, and the legendary HoneyBaked ham was born.

According to CNN Money.com, two-thirds of all family businesses die in the first generation, and only twelve percent make it to the third. The Hoenselaar family beat the odds, and today, with over 400 stores nationwide, Harry J. Hoenselaar’s children and grandchildren keep the legend alive with succulent HoneyBaked hams, honey glazed turkeys, plus a lot more. See the resource box below to find a store near you or to order online.

There’s nothing quite like the HoneyBaked ham, which is reportedly the end product of 20 separate preparation steps including a once-over with a butane torch to crystallize the glaze, but if you’d like to make a honey-good ham at home, here are two recipes to try.

Texas Mama’s Honey Crusted Ham
Spiral sliced ham is marinated in honey-sweetened fruit juice to allow the flavor to penetrate the slices, and to keep the ham moist during cooking, then finished with a honey and cookie crust.

*See tips below

1 spiral sliced half-ham, approximately 6-8lbs.
1 2 ½ gallon zip-lock bag, or deep bowl.

Marinade:

2 cups apple juice
2 cups orange or pineapple juice
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. cinnamon
8 whole cloves
½ cup honey

Honey Crust:

½ package Pecan Sandies shortbread cookies (Keebler or the equivalent)
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 TBS honey

Preparation:

At least 24-hours in advance of baking, place the ham in the zip-lock bag. Combine the marinade ingredients, stirring until the honey is dissolved, and pour over the ham. Seal, and place in a bowl in the refrigerator. Turn from time to time to insure the marinade penetrates the ham evenly.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Remove ham and reserve marinade. Place in a shallow roasting pan cut-side down.
Loosely tent with foil.
Bake as recommended on ham label (usually 10-14 minutes per pound), basting with reserved marinade from time to time.

While ham is baking, prepare the crust:

In a food processor, process cookies to a fine crumb texture.
Add spices to crumbs and mix well.
If your processor is heavy duty, add remaining ingredients and pulse a few times to combine well. You may need to remove to a bowl and mix by hand.

Approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes before ham is done (when internal temperature is about 130 degrees):

remove ham and increase oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Apply crust mixture evenly over the ham, pressing gently to build as thick a crust as possible.
Return to oven uncovered for approximately one hour, or until the crust is well set.
Allow ham to rest, loosely tented with foil, at least 30 minutes before serving.

*Tips:

HoneyBaked Ham does not use water-injected hams, which is part of the secret to a truly high-quality end product. Try to find one without water, or one that is only labeled “natural juices,” if possible.
A zip-lock bag is convenient and allows you to use less fruit juice, but ham can be marinated in a bowl if turned regularly to saturate all sides of the ham.
250 degrees is lower than most ham labels direct, but spiral sliced, precooked hams can dry out quickly, and they benefit from a lower, slower baking.
If surface of the ham is too dry for the crust mixture to stick, try rubbing a thin layer of prepared mustard on the ham before applying the crust.
Don’t discard unused honey crust mix. It makes a great topping over sweet potaoes, baked fruit, hot cereals, as a muffin topping—use your imagination.

You can also use this topping for ham steak.

Honey Crusted Ham Steak
serves 6-8

2 center cut ham steaks, the thicker the better.
2 cups of honey, spice, and juice marinade (recipe above)
Approximately 1 cup of honey crust (recipe above)

Place ham steaks in a large zip-lock bag and marinade in fruit juice mixture for 8-24 hours.

When ready to bake, remove from marinade and place on a foil-lined roasting pan.
Top with approximately ½ cup crust mixture per ham steak.
Note: The topping is extremely sweet and you are covering the entire top surface of the ham. Gauge the amount of crust to use by the thickness of your ham steaks. If your steaks are ½-1”-thick, the topping layer should be thinner than for thicker steaks.
Place in oven and bake 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until the crust is browned and set.
Allow to rest 15-20 minutes after removing from oven.

Don’t have an hour and a half? The topping can be hurried along by turning on the broiler for a few seconds. Watch carefully—sugar burns fast.

Need a quicker and easier way to get honey baked ham flavor on your ham?

Simple Honey Ham Glaze

A simple honey glaze can be made using 1 cup light brown sugar, ½ cup honey, 1 tsp. mustard, and 1 tsp. salt. Brush over your ham during the final 30 minutes of cooking to glaze.

For more info:

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