Ham Balls with Brown Sugar Glaze

Second practice. The boys are terrible and I love them. Marcus can't dribble without looking at the ball. Jaylen runs the wrong direction on every fast break. Aiden is the best player on the team, which is not a compliment Γçö it's seven kids who have never been coached and my son, who has been dribbling in the driveway since he could walk. I have to be careful. I have to coach the team, not just my kid. I have to be the coach I needed, not the father reliving his career through his son. I think about this constantly. I think about it more than I think about the restaurant dream, more than I think about Brianna's new boyfriend, more than I think about anything except feeding my kids and keeping them safe.

Wednesday night with Zaria and Aiden. She's five and already running the house Γçö told me I was cutting the onions wrong while I made red beans and rice. "Grandma doesn't cut them like that," she said, hands on her hips, and I swear I was looking at Mama at five years old, fifty years ago, bossing her own mother's kitchen in a shotgun house in Louisiana. The onions were fine. I told her the onions were fine. She said, "Hmm," which is Cheryl Carter's signature sound of polite disagreement, and I let her stir the pot because some battles are not worth fighting and some traditions are worth passing down even when they come with unsolicited opinions about your knife work.

Red beans and rice on a Monday, the way Mama learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, who brought it north from Shreveport. I added smoked sausage Γçö andouille from the Eastern Market, sliced thick, rendered in the pot before the beans went in. The apartment smelled like Louisiana for three hours. Aiden ate two bowls. Zaria ate one and a half and then fell asleep on the couch with rice on her cheek. I carried her to bed. She weighs nothing. She weighs everything.

Called Mama after the kids were down. Told her about coaching. She was quiet for a moment, then said, "Your father would like that." Dad doesn't say much these days Γçö the diabetes has slowed him down, the retirement has quieted him Γçö but I know she's right. Ronald Carter built Jeeps for thirty-one years and watched his son play basketball and never once complained about either. He'd understand standing on a sideline again. He'd understand that going back is sometimes the only way forward.

The red beans and rice fed us that Monday, and Zaria’s unsolicited critique of my knife work fed something else — that deep, stubborn pride you feel when you realize your kids are paying attention to everything. But some nights the story ends and the week keeps going, and you need something that practically cooks itself while you’re running Marcus through dribbling drills in your head. These Ham Balls with Brown Sugar Glaze are that recipe for me: mix, roll, glaze, bake — and when you pull them out of the oven, the whole place smells like something someone’s grandmother made on purpose.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 20 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground ham
1 lb ground pork
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp black pepper
For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed tomato soup

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Mix the ham balls. In a large bowl, combine the ground ham, ground pork, eggs, milk, breadcrumbs, and black pepper. Mix until just combined — don’t overwork it or the balls will be dense.
Form. Roll the mixture into balls roughly 2 inches in diameter (about the size of a golf ball) and arrange them in the prepared baking dish. You should get approximately 16–18 balls.
Make the glaze. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the brown sugar, white vinegar, dry mustard, and condensed tomato soup. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and the glaze is smooth and heated through, about 4–5 minutes. Do not boil.
Glaze and bake. Pour the glaze evenly over the ham balls, making sure each one is well coated. Bake uncovered for 1 hour, basting the balls with the pan glaze once at the 30-minute mark.
Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Spoon extra glaze from the pan over the top. Serve over white rice or with dinner rolls to catch the sauce.

Nutrition (per serving)

Ham Balls with Brown Sugar Glaze — The Sweetness That Follows a Hard Week