We had a ham taking up room in the freezer. I wanted to do something different with it – something I could do in a slow cooker – so I did an online search for a yummy-sounding recipe and came across this: Southern slow cooker ham.
It seemed simple enough:
• 1 bone-in fully cooked ham (about 5 1/2 pounds)
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup bourbon (Kentucky)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup dijon-style mustard
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
However I couldn't make it right away because we didn't have bourbon in the house (not our usual choice of spirits by any stretch). Then one day Don went into town and came back with an enormous jug of bourbon, which actually looks pretty funny sitting in our pantry because neither of us drink this kind of stuff.
But now I could make the recipe. I assembled the ingredients, including the apple cider Older Daughter brought along for her cider donuts a few weeks ago:
I tripled the recipe because we like lots of sauce over rice. I mixed everything, then poured it over the ham in the Crockpot.
Then I turned it on low and walked away from it for the day. Man I love slow cookers.
For dinner I made some rice, then we shredded some of the ham over it and poured sauce over the batch. I was a little worried the sauce would be too sweet – there was a lot of honey and brown sugar in there – but it was out-of-this-world delicious.
Yowza, they know how to cook in the South. That bourbon might get used up after all.
There was a reason that folks in the south seem to run on the heavy side. We love to eat and have some very good cooks.
ReplyDeleteWorked in a hospital kitchen in FL many years ago. One day 2 cooks brought in their best dishes for an after work event. One's baked beans were the best I'd ever had, the other's sweet potato pie was fabulous. Their secret ingredient, that they only gave me because I was moving back to CT, was bourbon!!
ReplyDeleteWell you found out just in time for the holidays! Bourbon is great in many things, like Jack Daniels pecan pie, but doesn't have to be Jack Daniels. And sweet potato pie, in many marinades, in fact, many sweet southern ladies don't drink, but bourbon is the secret ingredient for their best dishes. Alcohol literally carries flavors down to the molecular level of foods. That's why real vanilla works so well. You can make your own homemade vanilla using bourbon. Yep. I'm from the South!
ReplyDeleteYou seem to just love posting such tasty sounding things like this when I'm so hungry lol
ReplyDeleteYou would like my Rum spiked deviled eggs...
ReplyDeleteThe ham sounds delightful and delicious. The mulching leaves is a good idea. Our son moved into a bigger house with a tiny backyard and he just mowed the leaves over! We have pine trees so needles and stubby little pinecones that arent very appealing. we do get some leaves from the neighborhood trees. I do love looking at the leaves and all their glorious colors. Beautiful phoots.
ReplyDelete