What better way to satisfy a tableful of hungry friends and family than a great big ham? Answer: a ham bolstered with pineapple, itself a symbol of warm hospitality.
The classic image, of course, is a ham studded with pineapple rings and maybe some bright red maraschino cherries, and the style has an undeniable retro charm. But when it comes time to eat, those pineapple rings prove mostly decorative, offering little bits of sweetness but not much else.
Sign up for the Dinner Tonight newsletter!
Weeknight cooking inspiration, curated and written by longtime ATK author and editor (and avid home cook) Jack Bishop.
We wanted to bring these two players together and give them equal star billing, glazing the ham with a potent pineapple glaze and serving a lively, sweet-tart pineapple chutney alongside.
The key to “cooking” a cured ham—which is brined, smoked, and already fully cooked—is gently warming it to 110 degrees in a moist environment.
Pineapple-glazed Ham with Pineapple Chutney
Pineapple's sweet-tart essence is a great complement to salty, meaty ham—but you need to do more than pin rings on the exterior.
Get the RecipeTo keep the proceedings simple, we steered clear of plastic cooking bags—one less thing to shop for—and instead simply set the ham on a rack in a roasting pan, added some water to the pan, covered everything tightly with foil, and baked it in a 300-degree oven. The gentle, humid heat warmed the ham through to the middle without drying it out. It was ready for glazing.
A great glaze needs to be sticky enough to adhere to the ham and stay put in the oven. Ours—a mixture of pineapple juice, sugar, vinegar, crushed coriander seeds, and a little allspice (warm spices complement ham’s salty sweetness) all cooked down to a syrupy, sticky consistency—was just the thing.
A Ham on Hand
“Ham held the same rating as the basic black dress. If you had a ham in the meat house any situation could be faced.” —Edna Lewis
Chef and author Edna Lewis was talking about country ham, specifically, when she wrote the above in her groundbreaking 1976 cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking. But she was also talking about hospitality. Whether you were planning ahead for a big event or suddenly found yourself with a kitchen full of unexpected visitors, the key to a warm welcome was always preparation. It was important to be ready, Lewis was saying. You never know who’d pop in.
Because cured ham was stable in the larder for months, having one on hand was a thoughtful and economical way to please a hungry guest—invited or not. And to this day, a precooked ham in the fridge remains a common item in many Southern kitchens, always ready to be sliced for an impromptu sandwich or glazed and presented as a centerpiece for a festive feast. Pair it with pineapple, also an important signifier of hospitality, and you’ve got a brilliant, two-pronged expression of warmth for your family and friends.
When the ham was fully warmed through, we took it out of the oven, turned up the heat, painted on the glaze (which is best applied at higher temperatures), and popped the ham back into the oven so that the glaze could reduce and caramelize, providing deep flavor and a festive sheen. To take the ham over the top, we brushed on a little extra glaze for another layer of pizzazz.
But we weren’t finished yet!
For even more invigorating flavor, we created a bright pineapple chutney. It was simple to do: We cut a juicy fresh pineapple into chunks, browned the chunks in a skillet to add some caramel notes, and added ginger (a classic chutney flavor enhancer) and shallot for an aromatic boost, plus apple cider vinegar for a punch of acidity and pineapple juice to reinforce the fruit flavor. Pass this sweet, tart chutney at the table—and save some for the sandwiches you’ll make with the leftover ham.
