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Spring Into Entertaining Family and Friends with Spiral Sliced Hams

Spring is here at last, and with it comes balmy weather, outdoor activities and the urge to celebrate. With Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day and graduation parties to plan, busy cooks look for menu ideas that add flair and ease to the traditional family celebration. For festive and elegant entrées, more families are turning to bone-in, spiral sliced hams.

"Our spiral sliced ham is the perfect solution for people who want to spend their time with family and friends instead of in the kitchen," said Jon Lewallen, director of marketing at Cook's Ham. "The family chef can prepare Cook's bone-in spiral sliced hams with little effort and in less time than other entrees because they are fully cooked, ready-to-eat and pre-sliced for easy serving and beautiful presentation. Any leftover ham can make an appearance later in the week at the breakfast table, in sandwiches, soups, and in salads and side dishes."

As the centerpiece of the meal, a spiral sliced ham can serve as a chef's signature dish, made unique by the addition of a special glaze or sauce. While some hams come pre-glazed, home chefs can choose an unglazed ham such as Cook's to make the ham their own, either by applying the optional glaze packet, creating a homemade recipe, or leaving the ham unglazed. With side dishes such as roasted spring vegetables and new potatoes, fresh fruit and Mom's chocolate mousse pie for dessert, the springtime celebration will be delicious, elegant and virtually fuss-free.

The fruity and tantalizing Classic Cherry Sauce/Ham Glaze recipe below captures the taste of spring. For best results, look for a Cook's spiral sliced ham.

Classic Cherry Sauce/Glaze

  • Cook's Bone-in Spiral Sliced Half Ham
    (Optional: Can substitute Cook's half or portioned bone-in ham. Adjust cooking time and temperature accordingly.)
  • 1 jar (12 oz.) cherry preserves
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • ¼ tsp group nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp group cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp salt
  1. Preheat oven to 250°F;. Remove ham from all packaging materials. Place ham face down in roasting pan. Cover pan with foil and bake for 2 hours.
  2. Combine remaining ingredients. Simmer 5 minutes. Serve warm. Makes about 2 cups.
  3. Transfer ham to a carving board; cut around center bone with knife to free as many slices from the bone as desired.

Makes 12 servings.