Honey-Dijon Ham — For the Table That Still Needs Setting

Thanksgiving. I cooked the full dinner — eighteen-pound turkey, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce from scratch, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans (Jennifer's casserole recipe, because I now consider it canon), gravy, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie. I cooked for twenty. I served two. Marvin and I sat at the dining room table with the good china and the linen napkins and the turkey on the platter between us, and the table that seats twelve seated two, and the empty chairs were not empty, they were haunted — haunted by every Thanksgiving that came before, by the noise and the spilling and the children and the arguments and the laughter, all the laughter, and the table remembered even if the people at it could not.

The Zoom happened at seven. David and Jennifer and the four children — Ethan seven, Sophie four, Noah nineteen months — appeared in their dining room in White Plains, eating their own Thanksgiving dinner, and Rebecca appeared from her apartment with Thomas and a bottle of wine, and Miriam appeared from Tel Aviv at two in the morning because Miriam does not let time zones interfere with family, and we said grace (non-denominational, because the Feldman family hedges its theological bets) and we ate together, apart, on screens, in kitchens separated by miles and oceans and the impossible geography of a pandemic, and it was terrible and beautiful and I will remember it forever, not because it was good but because it was real, because we showed up, because showing up is the only thing I know how to do and the only thing that matters.

I delivered food the next day — containers of turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and pie to the Bermans, to Harriet, to Janet, to two families from the synagogue who lost a parent to COVID this fall. The delivering is the holiday now. The porch-drop is the table. The container is the plate. The knock on the door is the blessing. I knock. I leave. I wave. I go home. The chain doesn't break. The chain just stretches. It stretches across driveways and porches and screens, but it holds. It holds.

I will keep cooking for twenty even when only two sit down, because the cooking is not about the headcount—it’s about the intention, the table, the act of making something beautiful for the people you love. This Honey-Dijon Ham has become part of our holiday rotation precisely because it scales gracefully: it feeds a crowd when the crowd can finally gather, and it sends beautifully in containers when the porch-drop is the table. The glaze is simple and forgiving, like the best kind of generosity.

Honey-Dijon Ham

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 min | Total Time: 2 hrs 45 min | Servings: 14

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in fully cooked ham (8 to 10 pounds)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Whole cloves, optional (for studding)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 325°F. Place ham flat-side down in a large roasting pan. Add 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the pan.
2. Score the ham. Using a sharp knife, score the surface of the ham in a diamond pattern, cutting about 1/4 inch deep. If using whole cloves, press one into each diamond intersection.
3. Make the glaze. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together honey, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, ginger, and garlic powder. Stir until sugar dissolves and glaze is smooth, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Glaze and cover. Brush one-third of the glaze over the ham. Tent loosely with foil and bake for 1 hour 45 minutes, basting with pan juices halfway through.
5. Finish uncovered. Remove foil, brush ham generously with remaining glaze, and return to oven uncovered. Bake an additional 30 to 45 minutes, basting once more, until the surface is caramelized and a thermometer inserted near the bone reads 140°F.
6. Rest before carving. Transfer ham to a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes. This keeps the slices moist. Spoon any pan drippings over the top before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 290 | Protein: 27g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 1180mg