Sunday, January 8, 2012

A Farque Favorite: Rick's Pineapple Ham


 Rick (my father-in-law) is a great cook- probably one of the best I know! He's like a male version of Paula Deen! He's Southern to the core; his three loves in life are his family, his dog, and food. He cooks with so much love and usually without recipes. He has a perfect sense for flavor- I've never tasted anything that he cooks that hasn't made me drool with every bite!

One of my favorite things that he cooks around the holidays is ham. Oh. My. Goodness. This ham is so good! It's by far the best ham I've ever eaten! Jason and I went home for Christmas this year and nearly cried when we realized that he didn't make his famous ham for Christmas lunch! We told him that next year we don't want presents- we just want ham! 

After making Rick promise that he would never do that to us again on Christmas, I decided to try to recreate his recipe for New Year's Day. I was shocked at how simple the recipe was- and only a few ingredients. For my very first ham, it was really good! It didn't have Rick's special touch to it, but it was really close. If you enjoy ham, I demand that you try this! It will change your life, as will all of Rick's cooking!

Ingredients:
- 1 raw ham (it's very important not to get the one that is already cooked). Mine was about 9 pounds!
- 3 tablespoons of mustard
- 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 can of pineapple rings in 100% juice
- Greek seasoning

Directions:
1) In a bowl, mix together the mustard and brown sugar to make a paste. Rub this all over the ham.
2) Then sprinkle the Greek seasoning all over the ham.
3) Cover with foil and bake in the over for 3 hours at 375 degrees.
4) Take the ham out of the oven and rub another layer of of the mustard and brown sugar paste. Use toothpicks to secure the pineapple rings all over the ham. 
5) Continue baking for another hour at 350 degrees, uncovered. 
6) After the hour has passed, remove ham from oven and insert a thermometer to insure that the temperature has reached 160 degrees. If not, continue cooking for about 30 minutes or so.
7) When done cooking, let the ham rest for about 30 minutes before slicing so the juices have time to set.
8) Voila!

Do you have a family favorite recipe? I'd love to hear it!

  Get Cookin'!

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