Easter Dinner

So I made my cranberry glazed ham. And it was, you know, fine. But no one at the dinner besides Jason and my roommate Chrissy knew the whole story.

I found a recipe last week on the Food Network website and was doing a little happy dance because it sounded kind of complicated and really yummy and if there's one thing I like when I'm making something for a bunch of people it's a bit of a challenge with tasty results. There was simmering in juices and studding with cloves and prepping the glaze and all sorts of things to do.

Basically the recipe went like this: Boil ham in water for 30 minutes to get rid of excess salt. That sounds like a good step because upon doing a little invstigation I've determined that your average ounce of ham has something like 1500 mg of sodium. I've become a little sodium conscious lately and am trying to stay below 2300 mg a day.*

Then you simmer the ham in 128 ounces of apple and cranberry juices with two halved onions and some allspice. Yum, right?

Then you mix up the cranberry/honey/cinnamon glaze, stud your ham with whole cloves and pour the glaze over the ham. Follow this with baking the ham for 15 minutes and voila!

Saturday I decided to get the simmering out of the way, which the recipe allowed. I simmered for the recommended 3 hours, then let the ham cool in the pot of juices like the recipe said while I went to an Easter Vigil service that Jason was singing at. Before I left, I looked into the pot and wondered if it didn't look like the ham had fallen off the bone in a not-to-conducive-to-glazing-and-baking way. But no time now! Off to church.

When I got back, I drained the ham and then reached in to pull it out and place it in the baking dish. Only, when I pulled up, I felt pieces of ham falling down around my hands and realized there was no way the ham was coming up in one piece. I called Jason into the kitchen to help me. He pulled out most of the ham and put it in the dish, followed by a couple of handfuls of ham bits left at the bottom of the pot.

I stood there, my mouth agape, staring at the baking dish full of something that looked sort of like chipped beef. Not only had the ham pulled away from the bone, but it had completely dehydrated during the simmering process and gone from full succulent slices to little dry bits. This was NOT what the recipe said would happen. I think I cried out something to the effect of, "Oh no! It's ruined!"

Jason said he didn't see what the problem was and finally left the room in exasperation as I kept saying things like, "Are you crazy?! Of course it's ruined! There's no way I can glaze a pile of ham bits! You're wrong! Stop talking!"

Or something like that.

I called a couple of grocery stores and discovered that they were going to be open on Easter, so first thing Sunday morning I headed out. Four stores later, I found one single solitary ham. I know I paid too much for it, but it was seriously the Last Ham in Cambridge.

I came home and shoved it in the oven to bake according to the directions on the ham package. On the way to the friend's house who was hosting, I got in a couple of layers of clove studs. I glazed and baked once we got there.

And it was yummy. However, I have a bone to pick with the Food Network.


*Plus I found out yesterday that my blood pressure is a bit on the high side. What?! I'm kind of shocked since I used to have low blood pressure. Sigh. I'm telling you, I turn 30 and my body completely falls apart.