A couple weeks ago, my dad was experimenting with a sour plum duck recipe (which you should look out for in the next couple weeks, because it’s awesome), and we had a jar of plum sauce left over. This of course, set the gears turning in my head while I was also thinking up recipes for the holidays. Yes, this is a perfect Glazed ham for Christmas dinner that will spark some more leftover ham recipes for us too! Plum sauce is sweet, just like it sounds, but it also has a very sharp, almost sour flavor. Take a cautionary sniff of the stuff when you open the bottle, and you’ll see (smell?) what I mean. This got me thinking about a lot of the holiday glazed ham recipes I see out there on the Internet. There’s often a sweet element (brown sugar, honey, etc.) and a slightly tart element to balance it out (like pineapple juice, orange juice, or a bit of mustard). Plum sauce has both of these flavor profiles, which is why it goes so well with rich meats like duck––and, incidentally, ham. Of course, if you’re not a fan of plum sauce, you can give the glaze a milder flavor by using plum jam instead. This glazed ham recipe is about as simple as it gets. Just buy bone-in spiral ham, and mix together a glaze of plum sauce, a little honey, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and a bit of five-spice powder. Five-spice powder actually contains spices that are ubiquitous around the holidays, like cloves and cinnamon. Then you just glaze the ham as it’s warming, as per usual! Easy.
Though it’s an optional accompaniment, my chosen side dish for this ham is roasted potatoes tossed in soy sauce, melted butter, and chopped scallions. If you liked our Soy Sauce Butter Pasta with Shrimp, you’ll appreciate this new twist on potatoes. Okay, I’ve done enough talking. Let’s cook.
Plum Sauce Glazed Ham: Recipe Instructions
Place the ham flat-side down in a roasting pan, cover tightly in foil, and begin warming according to the package instructions.
Mix together the plum sauce, honey, soy sauce, dijon, and five spice powder to make the glaze.
Before the last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the foil and brush the glaze all over the ham. Roast for the last 30 minutes uncovered, basting the ham with more glaze halfway through.
Meanwhile, toss the potatoes on a baking sheet in olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper (Not too much! Remember, you’ll be tossing it in soy sauce, which is also salty). Roast the potatoes for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to get them to brown evenly.
Toss the potatoes in the soy sauce, melted butter, and scallions.
Serve alongside the ham!
Note: This recipe obviously is easier if you have a double oven, but not to worry! It can be done with one oven by allowing the ham to rest, covered, after it’s baked. During that time, you can roast the potatoes and serve everything together once they’re done!
