Easter is around the corner, have you tried my Southern Comfort Glazed Ham recipe? The fruitiness of the SoCo works well with the flavours of both the ham, and glaze ingredients - Super tasty!
Originally published October 22, 2014, Updated on 3/6/23
Back in 2014 - when I first created and posted this delicious ham recipe - we had just celebrated Thanksgiving.
Well, the first of two, anyway - the joys of being a 2-nationality marriage! The week before posting this was Canadian, then we celebrated US Thanksgiving in November. Life was - and still is! -good 🙂
Anyway, we decided to have a juicy ham for Canadian Thanksgiving, and a turkey for our American Thanksgiving dinner table that year.
Generally speaking, I like to do a whiskey glaze / bourbon glaze on ham. I’m not a whiskey drinker, but love the way whiskey, brown sugar, and pineapple accent ham. It’s just a really great combination!
That year, we had failed to plan ahead, and didn’t have any Jack Daniels on hand. Whoops.
He likes really stinky, peaty whiskeys. I can’t even handle the smell of them, so I definitely didn’t want to put them on something I’d be eating!
To be fair, I doubt he’d be a fan of my taking 4 shots of his PRECIOUS and mixing it in with glaze ingredients, either. I’m sure that’s some kind of blasphemy in whisky snob circles, LOL.
So, I had a wild idea: what about Southern Comfort? The fruitiness of it would work well with the flavours of both the ham, and my usual glaze ingredients.
The Resulting Ham?
...it was fantastic!
The rich bourbon notes of the Southern Comfort were a perfect complement to the other ingredients in the simple ham glaze, turning out a ham worthy of any holiday table!
Beyond holidays, this ham works well as a main course for family dinners throughout the year. Serve it with your favourite side dishes - green beans are pretty traditional, or try one of these tasty recipes:
Maple Bourbon Glazed Carrots
Scalloped Corn
Homemade Creamed Corn
Gouda Mashed Potatoes
Next-Level Scalloped Potatoes
Bacon Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Honey Roasted Carrots & Parsnips
Hasselback Turnips
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Leftover Glazed Ham
Because I made a HUGE Southern Comfort glazed ham for that holiday meal, there was a fair amount of leftover baked ham.
As was the case with any ham I’ve made, I used some of the leftover ham to make a big batch of my French Canadian Pea Soup, one of my ultimate family favorite comfort foods.
With this particular holiday ham recipe, however, I recommend cutting the “crust” off the ham entirely, before chopping the ham and adding it to any kind of bean soup.
The flavours of the Southern Comfort glaze are fantastic with the ham... but wouldn’t be awesome with the flavours of French Canadian Pea Soup, IMHO.
Ingredients
This recipe uses really basic ingredients that are easily found in grocery stores... well, and liquor stores!
The amounts needed are in the recipe card at the end of this post, but here are a few thoughts on the ingredients themselves:\
Smoked Ham
I’ve usually make this with a bone-in ham, partially so I have a ham bone to make soup off later - boneless ham is fine to use, if that’s what you prefer.
IMHO - for this recipe - the best ham is the one that suits your needs, in size, availability, and cost. Any fully cooked, regula ham will work well.
You can even use a spiral cut ham - the only caveat being that you’ll skip the diamond cuts, if using a spiral ham!
Southern Comfort
I designed this recipe specifically for SoCo, but don’t let that top you from substituting another spirit in its place. Just use ½ cup bourbon, whisky... even spiced rum!
Pineapple Juice
You can swap this out for apple juice or orange juice if you need to - I just find that pineapple juice goes SO well with the Southern Comfort in the brown sugar glaze.
Peach nectar is another great option.
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
Brown Sugar
Fresh Onion
Garlic Cloves
Dijon Mustard
Olive Oil
Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Whole Cloves (Optional)
... I just don’t really have anything to add, as far as these ingredients go!
More Holiday Recipes
Looking for more inspiration for your holiday spread? Whether Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or any of the other holidays, here's a few ideas for you!
Bacon Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Brandied Apple Upside Down Cake
Chicken Based Potato Sausage Recipe - Potatiskorv
Cranberry Wine
Egg Nog Sticky Buns
Gouda Mashed Potatoes
Maple Bourbon Glazed Carrots
Mushroom Brie Turnovers
Noelles
Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce
"Classy" Pumpkin Cheese Ball
"Trashy" Pumpkin Cheese Ball
Pumpkin Mead
Pumpkin Spice Nanaimo Bars
Savoury Mushroom Chestnut Stuffing
Southern Comfort Glazed Ham
Southern Comfort Pecan Pie
Traditional Cranberry Mousse
Traditional Pumpkin Mousse
Interested in cooking with liqueurs? You should check out my first cookbook, The Spirited Baker. It’s FULL of fun, tasty recipes using spirits and liqueurs for flavour – you should check it out:
Combining liqueurs with more traditional baking ingredients can yield spectacular results. Try Mango Mojito Upside Down Cake, Candy Apple Flan, Jalapeno Beer Peanut Brittle, Lynchburg Lemonade Cupcakes, Pina Colada Rum Cake, Strawberry Daiquiri Chiffon Pie, and so much more.
To further add to your creative possibilities, the first chapter teaches how to infuse spirits to make both basic and cream liqueurs, as well as home made flavor extracts! This book contains over 160 easy to make recipes, with variation suggestions to help create hundreds more! Order your hard copy here on my website, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller.
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Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
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Southern Comfort Glazed Ham
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Smoked Ham Fully cooked
- Whole Cloves Optional
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Small Onion Grated
- 3 Garlic cloves Minced or pressed
- ½ cup Southern Comfort
- 2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 cup Pineapple Juice
- ½ cup Brown Sugar Packed
- Salt and Pepper To Taste
Instructions
- Set your oven rack to the lower third of the oven, preheat oven to 350 F.
- Place a roasting rack in a large roasting pan, along with about 1 cup of water – you just need enough water to prevent the pan drippings from burning.
- Place the ham flat side down - fat side up - on a work surface. I like to do this on a large cutting board for easy access, but you can do it right in the roasting pan, if you prefer.
- Use a sharp knife to carefully slice ½″ deep cuts across surface of the ham, spaced about 1 ½″ apart.
- Cut another series of ½″ deep cuts crosswise to the first set of cuts, creating a diamond pattern all over the top surface of the ham.
- If you like, push a whole clove into each spot where the diamond shapes intersect – I usually don’t bother, though.
- Place ham in the prepared roasting pan, cover with aluminum foil. Follow the directions on the ham to bake ham – The cooking process usually takes about 15 minutes per pound. Set your timer for 40 minutes less than the amount of time it recommends.
- About 20 minutes before the timer goes off, prepare the glaze:
- Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic in heated olive oil, until onion starts to go translucent.
- Add remaining ingredients, whisking until smooth. Bring this brown sugar mixture to a boil, reduce burner to medium-low heat, and keep at a low simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste.Spoon half of the glaze evenly over the top of the hot ham, return to the oven for 20 minutes.
- At the 20 minute mark, spoon remaining glaze over the outside of the ham. Continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 140F when measured with a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the ham
- Remove ham from oven, allow to sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
David
Thanks for the laugh and the recipe. I am in charge of cooking the ham tomorrow. I was looking at some of the glaze recipes and based upon the flavoring, SoCo came to mind - my favorite sipping beverage. I announced to my wife that I am going to use SoCo on the ham, when she suggested, don't tell your mother. Then I thought, if I came up with SoCo as an idea, I'm sure someone else thought of it first! And you did.
Thanks.
Linda Kairys
We have made SoCo ham for the last 40 years but we soak the ham in it 24 to 36 hours before cooking it.