The Old-Fashioned Way To Make Baked Ham Called For This Classic Drink

Baked ham is perfect for holidays or any special occasion in which family and friends gather to share a meal. There are numerous convenient ways to make baked ham, such as in this honey-mustard glazed ham recipe. However, making baked ham the old-fashioned way requires one novel ingredient. 

Ham cooked in cider is featured in the 1885 cookbook, "Practical American Cookery and Household Management." Apple cider was favored by European settlers in the U.S., remained popular into the 1800s, and was a staple beverage and food item in many households. However, there's an important detail to note when cooking with it. Cider can be sold as fresh, which is made with pressed apples that aren't fermented, or hard, which is an alcoholic beverage made with pressed and fermented apples. The cider used in traditional recipes is the fermented version. 

Adding hard apple cider to baked ham produces mild sweetness and tanginess, while caramelizing and tenderizing the meat. It's drier than fresh apple cider or apple juice, so if you want a sweeter flavor, add more sugar to your baked ham recipe. Once you decide how to choose the most succulent ham based on your guest list and preferences, enjoy preparing your dish using cider and additional ingredients to enhance the ham's flavor.

One way to make cider-baked ham is to place the ham on a sheet of foil in a roast pan, then cover it with about 1 quart of hard apple cider, sealing the foil enough to hold the liquid. Bake the ham until it comes to the proper internal temperature of about 140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. When it's finished, enhance its sweetness by adding your favorite glaze, such as honey and brown sugar with spices. 

Using a different technique, add a hard cider-based glaze to the finished ham rather than during its initial cook time. When the ham is finished cooking, heat the ingredients for the glaze in a saucepan until combined. Then, use a pastry brush to add glaze to your ham and cook for an additional 30 minutes, brushing it with glaze every few minutes.  

If you'd like to make a cider-baked ham in the style often found in the southern U.S., choose a country ham versus a city ham. A country ham is quite different, as it is dry cured, smoked, and aged. The saltiness will affect the flavor when combined with sweet ingredients and cider, which cut through to balance the saltiness. 

Cider is a versatile ingredient with which you can make a number of dishes. Consider using one of the best hard ciders, which feature a variety of apple types, or imperial varieties with higher alcohol content. If you'd like to add even more flavor, use ciders that highlight other fruit flavors, such as pear or cranberry.