The Easter Beer Ham
I’m doing a crossover post with my craft beer review blog Hump Day Happiness since it suits both places. This is the Easter Beer Ham that Lushie and I worked on this year. Its been a couple of weeks since we’ve made it and the taste of deliciousness is still present.
It was difficult to decide on the right beer that would compliment the ham. That was until I opened a Coney Island Lager ( www.shmaltz.com/CONEY/cil.html ) from Shmaltz brewing ( www.shmaltz.com ) while prepping the side dishes. The beer has a mild malt flavor and some bite from hops which will balance the sweetness of the brown sugar we’re going to use.
Go see the beer ham goodness over at Flickr and follow the steps below in making this beer food porn gem.
What we used:
- 7 pound ham
- 2 cups of Coney Island Lager from Shmaltz Brewing
- casserole dish
- 1 cup of brown sugar
What to do:
- Place ham in center of casserrole dish
- 1 inch deep cuts made around the top so the beer bath will be able to soak in
- Put 1 cup of packed brown sugar into a large bowl
- Add 2 cups of Coney Island Lager to the brown sugar and whisk together
- Pour the mix over the ham where you made the cuts so it runs down covering the ham
- Let the ham sit for a few minutes while you prep your side dishes
- Bake 15 minutes per pound. Since ours was 7lbs we baked for 105minutes or 1hr 45minutes
- Baste your ham with the beer bath every 15 minutes. For smaller hams than 4lbs I’d suggest every 10. Judgment call really, just don’t let it burn
- The beer bath that you were basting it in will put a sweetness to the outside that you’re going to be temped to lick. Err I mean wait to enjoy at dinner
- Let the ham sit for 5-10 minutes. It will finish cooking itself while resting and locking in the juice
- Slice to size you prefer. I like it .5 – 1 inch
- Use the leftover bath as a gravy. Plate, serve and enjoy!
We weren’t worried about presentation at this point. The aroma of beer and ham was intoxicating (no pun intended).
Let me know how it works out for you!
cheers!
