Description
I’ve always cooked a ham as Mom did – in a large oven-proof pot, in a couple of inches of water, with a foil tent over it (if the lid won’t fit), for about 3 hours at 350. Once the ham is cooked, I keep about a litre of the ‘ham water’ and put it in the freezer along with the ham bone and 2-3 cups of chopped ham to make a big pot Ham and Split Pea Soup. If you buy good ham (we love Harvest), then you can never really go wrong – though those spiral hams are also very tasty! Then we discovered ham in the slow cooker…wow. This recipe is from ‘Ricardo’s Slow Cooker’, by Ricardo Larrivee, and I kept all of the liquid from this (along with a bag of chopped leftover ham) and used it in a giant pot of Best of Bridge Bean Soup and it was divine – enjoy!
Ingredients
1 bone-in smoked ham shoulder (about 3 kg/6 1/2 lbs) – make sure it fits into your slow cooker!
2 T. Dijon mustard
6 whole cloves
1 bottle (355 mL) pale ale
3/4 c. maple syrup
Instructions
Remove the mesh from the ham and the plastic topper from the bone , rub the ham all over with the Dijon, and pierce it with the cloves before placing into the slow cooker. Add the beer and maple syrup and then add water until the liquid is 2 inches from the rim of the cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 10 hours – ideally, aim to turn it over half-way through. Remove the ham from the cooker and cut it up as you wish – we found that it literally fell off the bone like pulled ham! Ricardo recommends using the liquid to cook whole potatoes, no matter what you do, keep the liquid, it’s super tasty and must be used! We enjoyed our dinner with a Scalloped Potato and Leek Gratin.
- Category: Ham, Slow Cooker