Avoiding leathery quality of cured ham

Heating and glazing a cured ham seems effortless, but many recipes yield leathery meat in an overly sweet glaze.

Bone-in hams, labelled “with natural juices,” have the best flavour, and spiral-sliced ones make carving a cinch, but too much time in the oven can ruin even the best ham on the market, so we focused on reducing the cooking time.

Soaking the ham in hot water shaved off a full hour, and using an oven bag further reduced the cooking time, while also containing the ham’s moisture. A heated mixture of sweet and savoury pantry staples made a tempting glaze. You can bypass the 1 1/2-hour soaking time, but the ham will be less juicy and the heating time must increase to 18 to 20 minutes per pound.

We prefer a tapered shank ham, but a rounded sirloin ham will work here. Glazed Spiral Sliced Ham Servings: 12 to 14 Start to finish: One hour and 55 minutes, plus 90 minutes for soaking 1 spiral-sliced bone-in half ham, 7 to 10 pounds 1 large plastic oven bag Maple Orange Glaze: 3/4 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup orange marmalade 2 Tbsp unsalted butter 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard 1 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Leaving ham’s inner plastic or foil covering intact, place ham in large container and cover with hot water; set aside for 45 minutes. Drain and cover again with hot water; set aside for another 45 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 250 F. Unwrap ham. Discard plastic disk covering bone. Place ham in oven bag. Gather top of bag tightly so bag fits snugly around ham, tie bag, and trim excess plastic. Set ham cut side down in large roasting pan and cut four slits in top of bag with knife.

Bake ham until centre registers 100 F, 1 to 1 1/2 hours (about 10 minutes per pound).

To make the glaze: Combine ingredients in small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced to one cup, five to 10 minutes. Set aside.

Remove ham from oven and increase oven temperature to 350 F. Cut open oven bag and roll back sides to expose ham. Brush ham with one-third of glaze and return to oven until glaze becomes sticky, about 10 minutes (if glaze is too thick to brush, return to heat to loosen).

Remove ham from oven, transfer to carving board, and brush entire ham with another third of glaze. Tent ham with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes. While ham rests, add four to six tablespoons of ham juices to remaining one-third of glaze and cook over medium heat until thick but fluid sauce forms. Carve and serve ham, passing sauce separately.