Braised-Then-Baked Ham Recipe (2024)

Absolutely delicious! The meat was so moist and flavorful. Everyone at Easter dinner loved it. I wondered about the short roasting time, but 15-20 minutes with a glaze really does crisp the surface. I used a glaze of apricot preserves mixed with Dijon mustard (3:1 ratio), and when the dripping glaze and juices started to burn in the pan, poured some of the reserved broth into the bottom, and was left with a nice rich sauce to pour over the meat when serving. My go-to ham recipe from now on.

You live all your life hearing and believing that ham has to be roasted and then this recipe comes along and you just can't believe it until you cook it--on the stove! I never heard so many compliments around a table about plain old ham. Make sure to use your meat thermometer because, again, if you're like me, what you're doing is counter-intuitive. I used the glaze recommended by Laurie in the notes and it was easy and superb.

This is basically a trimmed down version of the Jambon a la Bourguignonne recipe from the Escoffier book. The original calls for a Prague ham which is a wet cured and lightly smoked ham. A spiral sliced or uncured ham will not work for this recipe; a cured, aka city ham, is needed for this recipe. It comes out tender and moist and aromatic. Braised in the oven for 3.5 hours @ 250F. Amazingly rich Glace' from the jus. Perfect for a holiday meal.

It must be noted that all brine cured (and that includes "uncured," which only refers the fact that chemically produced nitrites were not used, instead nitrites derived from a vegetable source, as per USDA labeling regulations) are already cooked. Green hams (never have been cooked, only brined) would be more beneficial to this style of cooking. BTW, if you have never had a green ham or side of green back bacon braised, such as one might do with corned beef, try it. Best St Patricks Day meal.

Delicious broth to use for split Pea soup with the ham bone.

Sadly, a spiral sliced ham will dry out incredibly with this recipe. You can only use a solid, unsliced piece of meat.

A fresh ham is more like a pork roast than a cured ham (think pork tenderloin, but juicier and loads more flavor). You can certainly braise a fresh ham, although it's more often roasted so you get all that delicious gravy to drizzle over mashed potatoes. This recipe is good for a cured ham as it makes it much moister than if you only roasted it in the oven. It definitely won't work with a spiral cut ham. Remember, the definition of eternity is two people and a ham - cured or uncured!

I've used this recipe 4 or 5 times and it comes out great every time. Save the bone, the stock and some ham for spit pea soup.

Just the other day I was thinking that it’s been years since I did a ham this way. I would add insert a whole clove at each corner of the diamond pattern also, use ginger ale in the glaze. Yams, green beans, Brussels sprouts, oh my!

Uncovered. But make sure the ham remains submerged, so add water if necessary.

This was great! I’m going to make this again and again. I made a paste of brown sugar and Dijon mustard as a glaze and then patted bread crumbs onto the ham. The broth we cooked the ham in helped make a really good pea soup with the bone!

@David - what? if the ham is submerged, how are we basting it?

Every ham I have bought recently has been intolerably sweet - sugar, honey maple etc etc. The ham tastes too sweet and the reserved cooking liquid is not worth saving because there is too much sugar to use as a stock.

Every ham I have bought recently has been intolerably sweet - sugar, honey maple etc etc. The ham tastes too sweet and the reserved cooking liquid is not worth saving because there is too much sugar to use as a stock.

Why would this not work for a fresh ham, only a cured one? It seems like a perfectly valid braising technique that should work well either way.

I've used this recipe 4 or 5 times and it comes out great every time. Save the bone, the stock and some ham for spit pea soup.

Just the other day I was thinking that it’s been years since I did a ham this way. I would add insert a whole clove at each corner of the diamond pattern also, use ginger ale in the glaze. Yams, green beans, Brussels sprouts, oh my!

It must be noted that all brine cured (and that includes "uncured," which only refers the fact that chemically produced nitrites were not used, instead nitrites derived from a vegetable source, as per USDA labeling regulations) are already cooked. Green hams (never have been cooked, only brined) would be more beneficial to this style of cooking. BTW, if you have never had a green ham or side of green back bacon braised, such as one might do with corned beef, try it. Best St Patricks Day meal.

This is basically a trimmed down version of the Jambon a la Bourguignonne recipe from the Escoffier book. The original calls for a Prague ham which is a wet cured and lightly smoked ham. A spiral sliced or uncured ham will not work for this recipe; a cured, aka city ham, is needed for this recipe. It comes out tender and moist and aromatic. Braised in the oven for 3.5 hours @ 250F. Amazingly rich Glace' from the jus. Perfect for a holiday meal.

This recipe was the only disappointment of all the new ones I tried. I used a spiral ham and the result was pretty dried out. I think I would have had a better end result just following the directions, didn't really think it added flavor, the only benefit was all of the stock.

Where do the bread crumbs come in?

Is this really worth the time and effort? I’m staring at the 8lb uncured precooked ham in my fridge for Sunday’s Easter brunch and wondering if I should attempt this or simply use Sam’s tried and true classic glazed baked ham recipe. Comments are very welcome!

The braise was great. The ham stock was very flavorful. I'm making soup with it right now. I had a great deal of difficulty removing the ham from the braising pot. But did get it out, I had a spiral ham and it did not look like it would take a glaze well so I did not glaze or put the ham in the oven. Just tented it for about 20 to 30 min. It was moist. This will be my go to ham recipe from now on

This was great! I’m going to make this again and again. I made a paste of brown sugar and Dijon mustard as a glaze and then patted bread crumbs onto the ham. The broth we cooked the ham in helped make a really good pea soup with the bone!

Do you think this would work with a large "celebration ham"? https://www.wegmans.com/products/meat/hams/ham/celebration-ham.html

Tried this with a spiral cut ham. Was too dry- would not recommend this recipe with this cut.

We used a balsamic/maple syrup/cinnamon glaze. We also reduced some of the braising liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan to make a bit of a pan sauce. That was a lovely addition. We all loved the ham. So tasty and tender.

Delicious.