Best Baked Vermont Ham Recipes

VERMONT COUNTRY BAKED HAM FROM GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN, M.D.

Steps:

• Simmer ham in cider for 2 hours.
• Drain, skin ham, and cover it with paste made from maple sugar, mustard, cloves, and water.
• Place in baking pan, pour cider over it, add raisins to pan, and bake 2-1/2 hours at 325 degrees.
• Baste frequently.
• Make thickened gravy of cider raisin drippings.

BAKED VERMONT HAM

Steps:

• The only skin that needs to be removed from my favorite ham is a piece around the shank. Yours may need more removed. Score the fat in diagonal lines about 3?4-inch apart, making diamonds. Mix sugar, molasses, and spices together and rub mixture into the surface of the ham. Press whole cloves into the intersections of scored lines. Sprinkle fine bread crumbs over the whole surface. For Basting Sauce: Mix ginger ale, cider, and extra ginger and pour mixture into a roasting pan. Place the ham on a rack in the roaster. Insert meat thermometer so that it touches neither fat nor bone. Set the pan into a preheated 200° oven. Baste ham twice during the first hour, then cover with aluminum foil and forget it until morning. The next day the thermometer should register 165° and the ham should be a golden brown. If necessary, let it go on cooking until it reaches this stage. Set in a cool place but do not refrigerate it. Serve at room temperature. Fun Fact: Vermont government is distinctive for its local tradition of Town Meeting Day, held the first Tuesday in March. In many towns and villages, municipal and school budgets are voted from the floor as they have been for nearly 200 years.