Use Your Gas Grill To Cook Your Holiday Ham - Ham With A Cranberry Orange Honey Glaze
I love cooking, so I tend to be the designated cook for most holidays. I do enjoy that, but I sturggle with the limitations of a small kitchen that has a single oven. It makes it hard to create a feast with everything hot and ready at the same time. I found a solution: my gas grill. I cook the biggest item on my gas grill, freeing up my oven for the side dishes. One of my favorites is Grilled Cranberry Orange Honey Glazed Ham. The grill gives the ham a great flavor and a perfectly crunchy glaze that everyone loves.
Hams are actually fully cooked before they ever make it to the store. You never really "cook" a ham; you are actually just warming up the ham. Although it is a fully cooked food, you will still want to cook your ham to an internal temperature of 140 degrees F. This will minimize the risk of food-born illness. This cooking process will take about 15 to 18 minutes per pound of ham, whether you do it in a gas grill or traditional oven.
The Cranberry Orange Honey glaze can be cooked ahead of time, either on your normal stove top or using a side burner on your gas grill.
Ingredients for the Cranberry Orange Honey Glaze
1 1/2 cups of unsweetened cranberry juice
1/2 cup of pulp-free orange juice
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of honey (I love orange blossom honey for this particular recipe, but any honey will work)
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
Directions for Preparing the Cranberry Orange Honey Glaze
Place all the glaze ingredients into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Mix until everything is well combined. Heat the glaze over medium to high heat while stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture boils and it thickens. Set the glaze aside until the ham is ready to glazed.
Directions for Cooking and Glazing the Ham
Heat you gas grill to a medium heat, utilizing the heating elements on both sides but not the center. This method will provide indirect heat for the ham, which will allow for even cooking without drying out the ham. Place the ham on the center of the cooking rack and close the gas grill lid. Cook until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees F. You will need a probe thermometer for this; there is no other way to accurately measure the internal temperature and ensure that the ham is safe to consume.
Once the ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees F, brush it all over with the glaze. Turn the center heating element on to increase the heat and provide a direct heating source for the glazed ham. Continue cooking until the ham reaches 140 degrees F; this should take about 10 minutes. Your glaze should be crunchy at this point.
The Best Gas Grill For Making a Glazed Ham
You will want a decent gas grill for this task that is capable of providing even heating as well as holding heat in the cooking area. A cheaper model made of inferior materials will allow too much heat to escape, resulting in the bottom of the ham becoming much hotter than the top. This will make half of the ham juicy while the other half is dried out, and no one wants that. Visit Gas Grill Reviews to find the best gas grill for making glazed ham and so much more. You will find thousands of gas grill reviews as well as a handy gas grill buying guide to help you along the way.
Hams are actually fully cooked before they ever make it to the store. You never really "cook" a ham; you are actually just warming up the ham. Although it is a fully cooked food, you will still want to cook your ham to an internal temperature of 140 degrees F. This will minimize the risk of food-born illness. This cooking process will take about 15 to 18 minutes per pound of ham, whether you do it in a gas grill or traditional oven.
The Cranberry Orange Honey glaze can be cooked ahead of time, either on your normal stove top or using a side burner on your gas grill.
Ingredients for the Cranberry Orange Honey Glaze
1 1/2 cups of unsweetened cranberry juice
1/2 cup of pulp-free orange juice
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of honey (I love orange blossom honey for this particular recipe, but any honey will work)
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
Directions for Preparing the Cranberry Orange Honey Glaze
Place all the glaze ingredients into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Mix until everything is well combined. Heat the glaze over medium to high heat while stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture boils and it thickens. Set the glaze aside until the ham is ready to glazed.
Directions for Cooking and Glazing the Ham
Heat you gas grill to a medium heat, utilizing the heating elements on both sides but not the center. This method will provide indirect heat for the ham, which will allow for even cooking without drying out the ham. Place the ham on the center of the cooking rack and close the gas grill lid. Cook until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees F. You will need a probe thermometer for this; there is no other way to accurately measure the internal temperature and ensure that the ham is safe to consume.
Once the ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees F, brush it all over with the glaze. Turn the center heating element on to increase the heat and provide a direct heating source for the glazed ham. Continue cooking until the ham reaches 140 degrees F; this should take about 10 minutes. Your glaze should be crunchy at this point.
The Best Gas Grill For Making a Glazed Ham
You will want a decent gas grill for this task that is capable of providing even heating as well as holding heat in the cooking area. A cheaper model made of inferior materials will allow too much heat to escape, resulting in the bottom of the ham becoming much hotter than the top. This will make half of the ham juicy while the other half is dried out, and no one wants that. Visit Gas Grill Reviews to find the best gas grill for making glazed ham and so much more. You will find thousands of gas grill reviews as well as a handy gas grill buying guide to help you along the way.
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