Good news - Spring has returned, bringing a renewal of natural life energies. We celebrate collectively at this time of year, and that means, among other things, good food. Many of our chefs have put together special menus for Easter or Passover, or for the general purpose of enjoying the flavors of the season. Let's take a look at one menu and discuss it's finer points and style.

Ham is the classic meat choice for an Easter Supper. The bourbon and currant glaze presented here will take your ham and taste buds to that 'special place' not normally discovered via the ''honey-glazed" archetype. More good news, the glazing takes no longer to prepare than a typical ham. What's more, none of the ingredients for the glaze are too unique as to go to waste. The asparagus dish is exquisite. The menu as a whole is very meat-and-potatoes, but this side is the particular element that makes it so very elegant. The pine nuts and goat cheese are indulgent items and their flavors are strong- use sparingly. We recommend preparing plenty of this veggie side dish as people will be requesting more. And use fresh tarragon if possible. Biscuits are a requisite for Easter dinner, and the Angel Biscuits fit the bill and round out the southern flair of the menu. They're also easy to make. The trick is, don't over-mix them. If the batter seems messy, then they'll be perfect. Just leave them to proof, them butter and bake them. The less you handle the batter, the softer they'll be in the end. And what meat-and-potatoes menu is complete without, well, potatoes? Rather than go through the fuss of making mashed potatoes, follow this recipe and let them bake unattended for 30 minutes while you put the finishing touches on your other dishes. Easy, and doubtless to impress.

Dessert for a spring-oriented meal ought to be light and fruity, reflecting the fruit that has just come into season - certainly citrus, berries, etc. This menu''s mousse ought to thrill everyone, and is creamy enough to please even those who prefer not-so-light desserts. The recipe probably requires more attention that the others, but the methods are simple and it can (and ought to be) made ahead of time, so won't be a part of the dinner preparation push.

Preparation Time: 8 hours with two hands

This schedule is based on Chef Kevin's menu above.  Use this as a guide. Or, call ChefsLine and let our chefs develop a customized schedule for you based on your dishes.

Kevin's menu is suited to even the novice cook. Our estimates of time and recommended cooking schedule are realistic and assume a single at-home chef flying 'solo' in the kitchen. The recipe requiring some experience or more advanced cooking techniques are the biscuits - but you can always call the culinary hotline for live instruction!

Night before:

Clean greens and herbs.
Cook asparagus, drain well, dry and store in refrigerator.
Toast pine nuts.
Grate and store cheese for potatoes.
Prepare Rhubarb Mousse.
Mix glaze ingredients, cover and store.

Morning of:

Make Angel Biscuits.
Make salad dressing.
Arrange and prep cookware.
Set table, finish up housekeeping.

Three Hours to Supper:

Bake Ham (upper rack).
Prepare Dauphinoise Potatoes, cover and store in refrigerator.
Bring glaze to room temperature.
Plate any appetizers, uncork wine.

Two - One Hour Before Supper:

Cook Glaze.
Assemble salad - can be served 'family style' or plated.
Remove dressing and asparagus from refrigerator and bring to room temperature.
Bake Potatoes.
Glaze Ham.
Warm biscuits at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun cooking, because if you do, it will definitely be reflected in the eating experience. Happy Easter! We look forward to talking with you on the culinary hotline about last minute touches to a wonderful meal.

• If the answer is yes, call us for the friendly voice of reassurance from our chef team.
• Serve with: beer, bourbon, mustard sauce, a warm gravy, or mustard butter.
• Mustard Sauce Recipe: Mix 1/2 cup dijon mustard with 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey. Serve alongside ham.
• Southern Red Eye Gravy Recipe >
  

What follows is a quick guide from our collective experience andour test kitchen.
1. Heat your oven to 300 degrees. Remove the ham from the plastic and place on a roast rack in a roasting pan. Add 1/2”- 3/4” of water to the pan.
2. Cover the entire top of ham loosely with foil and crimp edges of foil around pan.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes for each pound. For or 10 pound ham that's 1 hr 20 min to 1 hr. 40 minutes.
4. Remove ham and pan from oven. Raise oven temperature to 425 degrees. Prepare glaze according to package instructions (for a flavor twist, substitute orange juice for the water in the glaze recipe). Brush the glaze all over the ham and place back in the oven for 10 minutes. Eat and Enjoy.

1. The center slices of ham are very warm to touch.
2. There is also steam coming off the inside of ham.
3. Look beyond the first slice or two - it looks moist.
4. You see some pieces that will satisfy that guest who always wants the burnt edges. The carmelization here is a good thing and creates a more beautiful presentation.
5. Using a meat thermometer? Good. This ham measured: tight narrow end was 120 and the center read 90 degrees. This ham, pictured here, was/is delicious!

When a recipe calls for tenting a roast, or ham, the goal is NOT to wrap foil around (360 degrees) the piece of meat. Instead, "tenting" describes how to cover a roasting pan.

Ham is the hind leg of a hog. The bone we see is the equivalent of a thigh bone. This ten pound ham is a pretty typical size and shape. This is "private selection" from Kroger Supermarkets and was labeled "spiral sliced half honey ham with glaze." This ham, like most spiral cut hams, are cured with water, honey, salt, various and typical preservatives. There are 830 mg sodium per 3 ounce serving which is 34% of your daily allowance. Good thing since hams taste so good when served with buttery and tangy dishes. Good news, lots of fat but only 150 calories. Typical glaze packets with a fully cooked, spiral cut ham include sugar, honey, paprika, cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. This earthy lending toward syrupy-tasting. Use orange juice instead of water when mixing to balance the glaze's sweetness and the ham's saltiness. Enjoy!

1. Remove ham from refrigerator while you prepare your work area and other dishes. Remove the wrapper from the ham. Let come to room temperature.
2. Set up a work area, with roasting pan, cutting boards, paper towels, utensils, etc.
3. Rinse and dry the ham.
4. Pre-heat oven to 325 °F.
5. Place the ham on a baking pan and place into the oven.
6. Bake the ham until the instant-read thermometer reads 130 F.
7. While the ham is baking, prepare your glaze and flavor/garnish ingredients (pineapples, cloves, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, orange juice, mustard, mustard powder, etc.)
8. When 130 F is reached inside the ham, remove from oven and score with a sharp knife.
9. Raise oven temperature to 425 degrees.
10. Stud with cloves, pineapples.
11. Spoon glaze over the ham and garnishes.
12. Return the ham to the oven.
13. Baste with glaze, every 15 minutes or so.
14. Bake until ham reaches 10 degrees below desired temperature.  Please see the handy "Ham Chart"
15. The ham will need to bake around 15 minutes for every pound, with the glaze and garnishes added about 3/4 of the way into the cooking process.

Holiday wine suggestions that pair well with Ham. Your best bets are Rieslings and Gewurztraminers because of their delicate balance of fruit and acidity.

 

Riesling: The slighty sweet flavor of a Riesling will balance the saltiness of the ham, and the full ripe fruit works well with most glazes.

Two suggestions:
Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica, Washington state $15 - $25
Wolf Blass Gold Label, Australia - <$15.00

 

Gewurztraminer: The exotic subtle spice of a gewurztraminer is a fine fruity choice to balance ham's saltiness. It is a remarkable value because of its lack of "starpower" when lined up next to the more popular Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blancs of the world.

Two suggestions:
Domaine Trimbach, Alsace (France) <$15.00
Colombia Crest, Washington state <$15.00

If you really want to learn more about ham, let us suggest two things. One, call ChefsLine and ask to speak with Cary Wolfson, our ham guru who has twenty years of experience in selecting, preparing, and getting creative with all types of ham.

Secondly, visit the Jennie-O Turkey Store online
. They have fabulous content and have very thorough information. They are a subsidiary of Hormel. What follows is information adapted from their website by our staff.

Hams are cuts of pork that come from the leg, which have been dry cured (country hams) or wet-cured (city hams) and then boiled or smoked. The dry-cured hams are saltier, stronger flavored and have a coarser texture than the wet-cured hams. Hams are larger cuts, which are used to serve several people. A whole ham can weigh 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. or more, but are generally sold in halves. They are fairly low in fat but high in sodium and are available bone-in, semi-boneless or boneless.

Specialty Hams

A variety of hams that have undergone special processes for curing, smoking, or cooking to produce a distinctive flavor. Specialty hams are generally dry-cured country hams aged for a long period of time (1 year or more) to develop a more intense flavor. Some specialty hams are brine cured, such as Irish ham, but most are dry cured. They are very expensive and most often have to be special ordered. Many specialty hams are imported from European countries. Many of these hams are produced from a particular breed of hog or hogs that are feed a special diet. Also, the type of wood used to smoke the ham contributes to its distinctive flavor.

Black Forest Ham

A specialty ham that has been brine cured and smoked to produce a unique flavor. This robust flavored ham may have the black exterior surface, which resembles the dry salt cured Black Forest ham, but it should not be mistaken for a true Black Forest ham.

Bradenham Ham

An English ham that is first dry cured and then is cured in a mixture of molasses, brown sugar and spices. It is smoked and has a black skin. It has a sweet, intense flavor and deep red flesh.

Gammon

Even though gammon comes from the hind leg, it is not considered a true ham because it is cured as part of one side of the pig or the whole pig. Once it is cured, the gammon (hind leg) is cut off the side or whole pig and sold as a separate cut. It has a mild flavor, is found smoked and unsmoked, and is more perishable than other hams. It is most often boiled when it is prepared.

Irish Ham

A brine cured ham for which Belfast is famous. Irish hams develop a distinctive flavor of their own from being smoked over peat and/or juniper fires. The ham is prepared by soaking and cooking it in the same manner as a country ham.

Kentucky Ham

An American dry-cured country ham, which is made from the hind leg of a pig that has been raised on a diet of acorns, beans, clover, and grain. The ham has a delicate flavor and is slightly drier than Virginia ham. Kentucky hams are smoked over a fire of corn cobs, hickory wood, and apple wood. They are left to age for up to a year after they have been cured.

Smithfield Ham

Considered the best of the Virginia country hams. To be a Smithfield ham, it must be cured and processed in the Smithfield, Virginia city limits. The hams are slowly smoked over oak, hickory and applewood. They are generally aged for 6 to 12 months but some are aged up to 2 years. The entire process results in a dark colored, dry, and salty, but richly flavored ham. The ham can be eaten raw but is most often soaked to reduce the saltiness and then baked or boiled.

Tasso Ham

Lean, highly seasoned pork that is served in the southern United States and most often associated with Cajun cuisine. It is made into a spicy ham, sometimes referred to as Cajun ham, having a peppery outer skin that has been heavily smoked. Tasso can also be produced as a beef product that has been cured and then smoked. Andouille, chorizo or linguica sausage can be used as substitutes that add more spicy intensity, but none of the three will provide the depth of the smoky flavor provided by tasso. Although very tasty, tasso may have a somewhat gristly texture.

Virginia Ham

A group of country hams that are produced in Virginia. The hams are lean and are most often smoked over hickory and applewood. They were originally produced from pigs that were raised on a diet of peanuts and acorns. Today they are mostly grain fed.

• Ham preparation will depend on the type of ham you select and whether it is uncooked, partially cooked or fully cooked. Preparing ham ranges from being as simple as placing the ham in a pan and covering with foil to as time consuming as the soaking and cleaning of a country ham. The ham should be allowed to set at room temperature for 1½ to 2 hours before cooking.
• Do not overcook ham or it will become dry and tough. The threat of trichinosis is eliminated when the ham is heated to 137°F, but the USDA recommends that uncooked pork should reach 160°F to be safe. Fully cooked ham should be cooked to 140° F to intensify its flavor and juiciness.
• Remove pork from oven when it reaches 5° to 10°F below desired doneness; temperature will continue to rise as it stands.
• Do not baste the ham with its juices as it is cooking because they are too salty and will only add more saltiness to the ham.
• Glazing the ham at the end of the cooking process adds flavor and a more appealing finished look to its appearance.
• Use the timetables below to determine how long to cook your ham. These times are approximate. Always use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of your ham.

Ham Chart
Weight	Type	Recommended Oven Temperature	Meat Temperature	Minutes per pound
8 to 12 pounds	Fresh	350 degrees F	170 degrees	20 minutes
12 to 16 pounds	Fresh, bone-in	350 degrees F	170 degrees	22-26 minutes
5-7 pounds	Smoked, bone-in, half ham	325 degrees F	160 degrees	25-30 minutes
10-14 pounds	Smoked, Whole	325 degrees F	160 degrees	18-20 minutes
14-16 pounds	Smoked, whole	325 degrees F	160 degrees	15-18 minutes
6-10 pounds	Fully cooked ham half, bone-in	325 degrees F	140 degrees	15 minutes per pound
12-16 pounds	Fully cooked whole ham	325 degrees F	140 degrees	18 minutes
2-12 pounds	Fully cooked, boneless	325 degrees F	140 degrees	12-15 minutes

 

 

Listen Now to Chef Andrew's Tips! Just press the arrow to play here.

• Click here for Chef Andrew Selz's recipe featuring soy sauce and lime juice.
• Looking for other flavor suggestions? Save time and all ChefsLine at 1-800-977-1224 to talk with a chef and develop your own special recipe with what you like and what's already on hand.
• Good web resource for lots of ham glazes: Ham Guys

ChefsLine Favorite: Bourbon and Currant Glazed Ham

Ingredients:
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup apricot preserves
1/3 cup currants
1 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp coarse mustard
2 tbsp dry mustard
1 tsp ground allspice

Method:
Preheat to 325°F. Line bottom of roasting pan with foil.

Trim off skin and all but 1/4 inch fat from ham. Place ham, fat side up, in roasting pan sprayed wit Pam.

Roast ham at 325 degrees until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 130°F to 135°F.

Remove ham from oven.

Raise oven temperature to 425°F. Using a knife, cut fat into a diamond pattern.

Glaze ham, covering entirely and evenly. Return ham to oven and roast until glaze is deep brown and bubbling, about 25 minutes.

Remove ham and let ham stand for 30 minutes.

Glaze:

Put all the ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until a thick syrupy consistency.

Let cool for about 10 minutes.

If you prefer to have some reserved to use as a sauce, double the recipe.

 

For a beautiful presentation, rack of lamb is tough to beat. A "frenched" rack of lamb is already a perfect presentation with it's medallion of meat and elegant rib bone (take a look at this photo ). If your butcher has not cleaned the bones well or you are "frenching" the rack yourself, use a sharp paring knife to scrape the bones and remove all traces of meat. Rack of lamb has a delicate flavor and should typically be roasted and served rare or medium rare. Chef Robyn Fennessey's Rack of Lamb with Rosemary Brandy Sauce is a favorite.

A friend of mine, an expert on Greek cooking, swears by Arni Kleftiko - which means "Bandit" Lamb. Reportedly, the lamb was originally cooked in a pit to avoid having the smoke from the cooking fire give away the bandits' hideout. Pit or not, it's a delicious preparation and the way I plan to cook my lamb this Holiday.

For years, my go-to spring lamb recipe was roast leg of lamb. I'd cut slits in the leg and stuff them with garlic and rosemary, brush the leg with olive oil, season it with salt and pepper, and cook it to a perfect medium rare. It's always delicious. If you want to prepare a leg of lamb - a really impressive and delicious dish at a feast - Chef Cary's Mustard-Marinated Leg of Lamb may be just the ticket. Chef Jim Gray's Easy Leg of Lamb is just that - easy but delicious. For an in-depth presentation on how to easily select, trim, and roast a delicious leg of lamb, listen to Chef Erika's Leg of Lamb Podcast.

Leg of Lamb Podcast (mp3)

Press "arrow" and listen online to Chef Erika describe how to easily select, trim, and roast a delicious leg of lamb.

And let's not forget about Lamb Shanks and Chops. Chef Julie's Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks has classic flavors and the colors are divine. For more classics, our Jim Grays' Pork are flexible main courses for pairing many of the early Spring seasonal side dishes.

A few years ago, I finally tried a new kind of lamb dish for the Holiday, a traditional Italian Easter lamb dish called Abbacchio. With Abbacchio, the lamb is slowly cooked until it's melt-in-your-mouth tender. Although I'll be daring to serve another "new" dish this Easter, I hope some of you try and enjoy my lamb stew recipe. It's a wonderful holiday dish and really highlights the lamb flavor I so enjoy.