About 15 years ago, my father prepared this ham for Christmas, and we all enjoyed it. Since then, I haven’t cooked another ham and I don’t enjoy them as much.
| Prep Time: | 35 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 1 ham |
Ingredients
- 1 (8 1/2 pound) cooked bone-in ham (shank end)
- 40 whole cloves
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup bourbon whiskey
- 1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Remove skin and excess fat from ham, leaving a fat layer about 1/4-inch thick. Score ham in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife. Push cloves into the center of the scored diamond shapes. Place ham with cut side down into a roasting pan.
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- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
- Bake ham in the preheated oven until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat, not touching bone, reads 125 degrees F (52 degrees C), about 2 hours.
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- Combine brown sugar, whiskey, and black pepper in a bowl until glaze is smooth.
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- Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Baste ham with 1/3 the whiskey glaze. Return to oven and bake until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F (60 degrees C), basting ham with whiskey glaze every 10 minutes. Cover ham loosely with a tent of aluminum foil if ham browns too quickly.
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- Let ham rest for 15 minutes before carving.
- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 758 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 154 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 51 g |
| Saturated Fat | 18 g |
| Sodium | 3551 mg |
| Sugars | 15 g |
| Fat | 51 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Did a trial run for the upcoming holidays. OMG!! This ham recipe is AMAZING!! Followed exactly but added a thickly cut red onion (that needed to get used up) to the bottom of the roasting pan, tucked under the ham. I may never make another ham again! 10 stars and will make a big impression at any dinner table!! Thank you AMYDANIELLE1!! Top notch!
Super delicious and easy. Made it for Christmas lunch in my wood pellet griller. It added even more flavor to it.
My favorite ham glaze has bourbon, orange marmalade, and stone-ground mustard. But the key ingredient is the bourbon. It really makes a difference. Takes the favor from good to wow.
This was delicious – a sticky challenge to “cut up” on a full stomach but will certainly make it again – our 9lb ham was not dry! I found 1/2 cup of whiskey is needed. I also did not have whole cloves so I learned that 10 whole cloves is equivalent to 1/4 of a teaspoon & so I converted that for the recipe & mixed that in the marinade.
i got rave revues from my family, even my son who doesn’t care for ham. thanx
Really great recipe! Everyone one that tried it loved it
Hands down. Best ham I’ve ever had. Nice smokey flavor not overly sweet.
We made this at Christmas and liked it so we’ll, we are doing it again for Easter.
This recipe was perfect. My whole family loved it. I made it as is but did double the sauce to have extra. I used a ham shank that was on sale and this made the ham so juicy and flavorful. My family is already asking me when am I going to make this again. My answer… VERY SOON! Thank you for this recipe. It’s a keeper.
We will most certainly make this recipe again. We did make a change because we wanted more liquid for making a gravy from the drippings. We doubled the amount of bourbon to achieve the amount of liquid. This was so tasteful, I’ve had requests for the recipe.
I didn’t have any cloves so i used a little nutmeg in the glaze. My husband said it was the best ham I ever made in the 20 yrs we been together.
Best ham I have ever made. Tried it out as something different for Christmas dinner last year. This is now my go to ham recipe. I have made it with and without the cloves when I was out of them and it was great both ways.
This is absolutely the best ham I have ever had. Fixed it for a family gathering and it was a hit with everyone. This is the only way I will ever fix ham again. Simply wonderful!!
Delicious! I wish I’d taken a picture as it looked cookbook worthy. Loved, loved, loved the glaze. Very moist inside and carmelized on the outside.
This ham turned out dry. The glaze was good but so thick there was no way it provided any moister to the ham. I ended up taking the very concentrated dripping from the pan and added to some chicken broth and pouring over the ham after it was sliced. I will be making potato soup with the leftovers. I don'[t think I will make this again.
I used a boneless ham because we didn’t need that much ham. It was great
This was incredibly fantastic. The first few times, I made the glaze per the recipe. But once I forgot the bourbon while shopping for Christmas dinner, but had spiced rum on hand and used that. The taste was different, but just as wonderful. Now I must make the decision… spiced rum or bourbon! Thank you!!
Made this last year for Christmas Eve dinner and it was a huge hit!!! I’m making it again this year. Awesome recipe! Salty ham, with the sweet glaze and the spice of the cloves….. just awesome.
Always make this for the holidays, my kids insist on it, only difference I do is use ground clove instead of whole.
I had maple whisky on hand so I used that- the flavor was amazing but next time I will cut back the sugar by half. was fantastic for Easter dinner!!!
I made this ham for our family christmas and it was incredibly good, nobody spoke while eating because the ham was so good, I changed nothing and will make this again for sure