Root Beer Glazed Ham & Turkey Andouille Gumbo

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cookking

Sous Chef
Joined
Nov 28, 2003
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683
Throwing caution to the wind I decided to not cook the usual traditional New Years Day fare. I decided to cook a big pot of turkey andouille gumbo and a root beer glazed ham. That is until my wife and I went to the supermarket and she insisted on cooking cabbage and blackeye peas. So we had a lot of food but it was all good and nobody complains when they get to take some home and we have some in the freezer ready to thaw and be enjoyed and loved on one of those cold or rainy and chilly days or nights.
In the past the ham always came out delicious but the outer bark with the brown sugar tended to come out a good bit darker and harder. Following directions exactly the same as always it came out much better this time for some reason I can't figure out. I did increase the glaze quantity by 50% to have more than usual.
Delicious!!!
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Now when I said I made a big pot of Turkey Andouille gumbo I really meant a big pot. I reached up to the top shelf of the back room and grabbed my 24Qt. stainless steel stock pot which stands twelve inches tall and thirteen inches accross. I didn't cook the whole pot's worth but you can see in the picture how much I did cook.
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This one(gumbo)in my opinion was quite possibly one of the best I've made yet. Now I did have some of the best andouille you can buy from Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse in Laplace which I picked up Monday morning. I do love going to Laplace to get those great smoked andouille and tasso from Wayne Jacobs and Bailey's but lately eveytime I go a spend over a c-note there. I've got to have a good supply in the freezer on hand. Lol...
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Oh and there were other foods to go along with the already mentioned stuff. Potato salad, baked brie with peach preserves and homemade rolls to name a few as well as rum cake and mincemeat pie and an assortment of other sweets like pralines, cookies and fruit cake for dessert. Cocktails, wine and champagne flowed nicely too.
And then as a little lagniappe everyone left with a nice bag of fresh picked oranges from the two trees in the yard.
It was a nice New Years Day and I hope and wish everyone a great year with nothing but goodness and health.
 
Root Beer really?

Yep! Root beer.

Recipe below

Root Beer-Glazed Ham

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Above, before and after the three- to four-hour baking. You will have a hard time holding back those who want to cut off the crusty glazed outer quarter-inch and munch on it as a snack. In New Orleans, we use the superb, locally-produced Chisesi ham for this. Otherwise, a top-quality, lean, naturally-smoked boneless ham is what you want. The drippings get so crusty that you'll want to use a disposable pan to bake the ham. The stuff is impossible to dislodge.
  • Glaze:
  • 24 oz. (two cans) Barq's root beer
  • 1 1/2 Tbs. pepper jelly
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 1/2 Tbs. Tabasco Caribbean style steak sauce (or Pickapeppa)
  • 6 cloves
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • Peel and juice of one-half an orange
  • Peel of half a lemon
  • 1 cured, smoked ham, about 10-14 pounds
  • 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1. I usually make the glaze the night before, so I can get the ham right into the oven in the morning. Combine all the glaze ingredients in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower to a simmer, and cook for about a half-hour. Strain the pan contents and discard the solids. Reduce the liquid to about a half-cup. Refrigerate if you do this in advance.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the ham on a rack in a disposable aluminum pan. Cut shallow gashes in a criss-cross pattern across the top half. Spoon the glaze over the ham to completely wet the surface.

3. Combine the brown sugar and the dry mustard and pat it all over the ham. Pour a half-cup of water into the pan. Put the ham in the oven at 350 degrees.

4. Spoon some of the glaze over the top of the ham at 15-minute intervals until it's all used up. Try to get some glaze on all parts of the ham. Add more water to the pan when it dries up.

5. Continue baking until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a half-hour before carving.

Serves twenty to thirty.
 
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