Jim’s Honey-Glazed Ham

Pasteles, batch two. I am in the middle of the annual marathon. The kitchen smells of achiote and pork and banana leaves for the entire week, and at night when I lie down the smell is in my hair, and Eduardo has said, "Carmen, you smell like Christmas," which is what he says every year at this time and which I take as a compliment.

Sofía came over Wednesday after nursing school and I put her to work. She had two hours between class and the evening shift she was picking up at the ICE in her pilot clinical rotation — she is doing some early hours now as a student, and she is exhausted, and she came over anyway because pasteles is a Delgado obligation and because she knew I could use the hands.

We made twelve more. That brings me to thirty-six. I need about seventy total — to serve on Nochebuena, on Christmas Day, at the post-Christmas get-together on the 28th, on New Year's Eve, and to send with various people for their own tables and to keep a dozen for the apartment where Mami lives and for the January-February bridge where pasteles appear randomly from the freezer as a rescue meal on a hard week. Seventy is my number. It has been seventy for twenty years. I have not made fewer than seventy, and I have not made more, and this is the quantity that precisely feeds the Delgado Christmas season.

Sofía asked me while we worked, "Ma, how did Abuela Consuelo do this for so many people without a food processor?" I said, "Mija, she grated everything by hand, and she had your aunts and me and your tías Marisol and Ana to help, and we made a hundred pasteles in a single Saturday when I was your age, and I was not grateful enough at the time." Sofía nodded. She was grating yautía. Her hands were red from the grater. I said, "I was ungrateful, mija. I was sixteen and I did not want to be in the kitchen. I wanted to be at the beach with my friends. My mother made me stay. She said, 'One day you will have a daughter, and she will ask you about this day, and you will thank me.' She was right."

Sofía stopped grating for a second. She looked up. She said, "Are you thanking her now?" I said, "Yes." Sofía said, "Tell her." I said, "I will tell her on Sunday."

Sunday I went to Mami's apartment with a container of pasteles and a thermos of coffee. Mami was in her chair, watching the Spanish news. I sat with her. I said, "Mami, thank you for making me make pasteles when I was sixteen." She looked at me. She said, "You fought me the whole time." I said, "I know. I am sorry. And I am glad you made me." She took my hand. She said, "Good." She closed her eyes. She kept holding my hand. We sat that way for a long time. Wepa.

Seventy pasteles feed the Delgado Christmas season, but they do not feed it alone. There has always been a ham on the table next to them — glazed and golden and easy enough that I can slide it into the oven while the next batch of masa is coming together. After a week of grating yautía and tying banana leaves, the ham is the thing I do not have to think about, and it is the thing that makes the table look finished. This is the one we use.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 (8-10 pound) bone-in, fully cooked half ham
1 cup honey
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Whole cloves for studding (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the ham. Preheat oven to 325°F. Remove ham from packaging, pat dry, and place cut-side down on a rack in a roasting pan. If desired, score the surface in a diamond pattern about 1/4 inch deep and stud each intersection with a whole clove.
Make the glaze. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine honey, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, orange juice, melted butter, ground cloves, and cinnamon. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
First bake. Cover the ham loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Apply the glaze. Remove the foil and brush the ham generously with about half of the glaze. Return to the oven uncovered and bake for 30 minutes.
Glaze again. Brush with the remaining glaze and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 140°F and the surface is deeply caramelized.
Rest and serve. Remove ham from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Spoon any pan drippings over the sliced ham for extra flavor.

Nutrition (per serving)

Jim’s Honey-Glazed Ham — The Other Half of Nochebuena