![Chex Mix](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/11/21/multimedia/LH-Chex-Mix-gwjp/LH-Chex-Mix-gwjp-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Chex Mix
Lidey Heuck
255 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
255
1 hour, plus cooling
Updated April 4, 2024
Advertisement
Choose a pot that fits the ham with enough space on top to close its lid and with space between the ham and the sides. Combine the wine, juniper berries, peppercorns, cloves and 2 tablespoons honey in the pot, and mix well. Arrange the onion in the center to form a rack for the ham and place the ham on top, flat side down. It should sit just above the wine.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, basting after 15 minutes, until the ham is heated through, 30 to 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil. Combine the brown sugar, mustard and remaining tablespoon honey in a small bowl.
Carefully transfer the ham to the foil-lined pan using 2 sturdy metal spatulas. The slices should have fanned open. If they haven’t, separate the slices, nudging them into a pretty arrangement. Add 1 tablespoon cooking liquid from the pot to the brown sugar mixture and stir until smooth. (Save the remaining cooking liquid for stews or braises.) Pour over the ham, spreading evenly all over the top and not letting too much spill onto the foil. Fold up the sides of the foil to form a little boat to hold any ham juices.
Bake just until the topping is crackling and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. Carefully transfer to a serving platter with the spatulas, then pour the juices from the foil all over the ham. Serve immediately, with the onions from the pot, if you’d like.
Two words: sous vide. The ham already comes vacuum sealed ready to drop to the water bath. Then coat with the glaze followed by a short hot blast in the oven to brown the crust. Edge-to-edge temperature perfection with moisture preserved. My preferred brand: Trader Joe's Spiral Slice Uncured Ham.
The problem with this recipe is in step 2, which says to simmer "until the ham is heated through" without specifying an internal temperature. Regardless of the heating method, if its internal temperature is over 120 degrees, a pre-cooked "city" ham will be dry. America's Test Kitchen recommends heating the ham to just 100 degrees and then finishing it in the oven as in step 5 above.
Instead of making the glaze in the recipe, I used the glaze that came with the spiral ham bought at Costco. One could use water instead of wine. I didn't have juniper berries and wasn't about to go in search of....
Here’s one option: Smithfield Spirals Hickory Smoked Bone-In Quarter Ham
Had no Riesling on hand so used to 1 1/2 cups of ice cider and ½ cup of white wine.
I love this recipe! It’s so easy & quick. It’s the only recipe I will need for baked ham going forward. I had to substitute a couple of ingredients & it still turned out fine: 2C. Cider in place of wine; 2 TBLSP Gin in place of Juniper Berries. I will use extra onions next time, as they cook up nicely in the brine & are delish served alongside the ham
This was more work than the result warranted
I would sous vide with a some riesling and spices inside the bag, water outside. This saves on wine, enabling one to serve it with dinner and avoid having leftover broth. Also, I would put the ham into a partly preheated dutch oven instead of foil, then bake open, cover to retain juices and fond, and remove lid at last minute to brown. That echoes how one would control the baking of the crust on bread dough to make it just right.
This recipe is depending on infusing the meat with flavored and aromatic steam. A resting period would be counterproductive; instead of “allowing juices to be reabsorbed,” you would instead be allowing moisture to evaporate and sit in a puddle on the platter. A pork cut processed into cured ham is very different from a “fresh” cut of chicken or beef, or for that matter a pork cut.
We order our ham from Burgers Smokehouse in California, Missouri. We’ve been lucky enough to visit them in person, and they are a wonderful bunch of folks, and their hams - city or country - are delicious.
The best. Used rosemary as I had no junipers berries. I have had problems with keeping spiral hams together while warming. I tied it together with twine. Worked great and I had a handle to lift it out of pot with.
Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas I am the go-to person for the ham in our family. I have made lots of hams in everyway imaginable but this was by far the best. I was almost embarrassed by how little time and effort it took... I made a couple of small substitutions; 1 cup of water, 1 cup of white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of red vermouth for the wine, cardamom pods for the juniper berries and a good splash of maple syrup in the glace. Made a great ham barely soup with the bone!
Should the onions be optional? Heck, no. Them, with some random juniper berries and even a spark of clove in the email were super-tasty. Next time, would double-up on the onions.
Another thought is to use a baking bag, such as the Reynolds baking bag with a little wine and spices, and then proceed with the sugared browning as the second step.
The braised onions were OK as they were, but then I caramelized them with olive oil… oh my.
Agree with other comments. Steaming to heat thru is good, but need for juniper berries etc. was a waste. Had to crank up oven temp to get the glaze to carmelize.
My husband who has a decades-long affinity to Easter ham with cherry sauce said, “I thought I would miss the cherries but I don’t!” My adult sons declared - “no lie, the best ham you ever made”. I took the suggested substitutions of cider for Riesling, gin for juniper berries and maple syrup for honey. It was outstanding and just as good as cold leftovers. The new Easter go-to!
Didn’t have juniper berries so I used dried sage, rosemary and marjoram. It was delicious!
My only change was 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice instead of one tablespoon of juniper berries. The result was meh, though I followed the recipe faithfully. Wouldn’t make this again, sorry to say. I usually find Genevieve’s recipes wonderful, so it’s not a dig. Can’t hit every pitch out of the park.
Honey Baked Ham transformed the TN way. Started my day with a hike and then hit WF to buy a bottle of Riesling and juniper berries What a surprise when I learned you cannot buy wine in TN on Easter and juniper berries have not made it to TN. So I hit the notes to find subs. Luckily TN does not outlaw ALL other alcohol on the holiday, so I purchased a bottle of gin and a six pack of Walker Brothers Blueberry Juniper Hard Kombucha. Delicious substitutes
The picture shown looks like a really dry ham. How do you avoid the dryness?
I start with a honey baked (capitalize that H and B) ham. It comes fully cooked. I take it from the refrigerator an hour before serving. I serve it. Best ham ever. Got instructions from the man behind the spiral ham counter. If it worries you that the hame looks to un-fancy, serve it with stunning side dishes from the NYT Cooking site. There is no need to bake-steam-slow cook a cooked ham.
In the past, to make a delicious ham, I have started with a pre-cooked spiral cut ham, covered it with a homemade thick glazing paste, and cooked it for several hours on low in the larger size oval slow cooker, covering the top with foil. It comes out *much* more moist and delectable than a ham cooked in the oven. My favorite glaze is my mother's: brown sugar, dijon mustard, and a little white wine.
I put this in a large glass foil liner baking dish to finish this in the oven. So much easier to take out! Followed recipe closely and it was fabulous!
My favorite way to cook a spiral-sliced ham is in a Crock Pot. It stays wonderfully, deliciously moist. I don't need a crackly crunchy sugar glaze.
Absolutely amazing results! This was the bomb for Easter supper. Thank you.
The initial covered simmer with wine, spices and a little honey is a wonderful idea which I'll retain. But the second step is really problematic. The glaze is far too sweet and while the edges crisped, the outer slices of the ham dried out even in the 10-15 minute exposed bake, which defeated the purpose of the simmer bath. Next time I'll apply a less sugary glaze at the end of the simmer, and either skip the crisp edges or do it with a blow torch.
Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas I am the go-to person for the ham in our family. I have made lots of hams in everyway imaginable but this was by far the best. I was almost embarrassed by how little time and effort it took... I made a couple of small substitutions; 1 cup of water, 1 cup of white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of red vermouth for the wine, cardamom pods for the juniper berries and a good splash of maple syrup in the glace. Made a great ham barely soup with the bone!
Ridiculous. I guess I've been lucky over the years to not have a dried ham. I would suggest following the reheating instructions, esp. the oven temp. I gave this a try, but gave up when the ham would not fit in the dutch oven with the lid on. So in the oven it went. Delicious as always. An onion rack? Right, so the bottom of your ham will be boiled. I recently read an amazing quote from Ina Garten, "how many recipes do you need?"
Advertisement