Root Beer Glazed Ham

My family was never really one for making a big to-do about Easter, but we always had a ham. The rest of my family always slathered theirs with a raisin sauce, the recipe for which had been handed down through a few generations on my dad’s side. It was always far too sweet for me, so I abstained.

I appreciate the interplay of sweet and salt much more now, but that raisin sauce is still too much for my liking. The syrupy root beer for this glaze though, adds complexity and spice to the ham while imparting just enough sweetness to balance the saltiness.

As you can see above, it also works well on a sandwich with whole grain mustard and watercress.

Root Beer Glazed Ham

24 oz root beer

1 cinnamon stick

6 whole cloves

1 Niman Ranch petite ham

Bring  first 3 ingredients to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until reduced to 2/3 cup. Spoon 1/3 of glaze over ham. Cook ham in 300⁰ oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes per lb. until internal temperature registers 135⁰F, spooning a tablespoon or two of glaze over ham every ½ hour until gone. Let ham rest 10 minutes, slice, serve.



Charoset

Unlike the majority of our gentile celebratory foods, which gain a spot on our tables simply for being delicious, Jewish cuisine is notorious for the symbolism of each item present.

Matzo and only other unleavened breads because the when the Jews left Egypt they didn’t have enough time for leavened (chametz) bread to rise and/or because it was easy to carry with them on their journey back to Israel.

Bitter greens to symbolize the embittered life of enslaved Jews in Egypt and salted water to represent the tears of the people.

There are many other symbolic dishes that represent various struggles and tribulations in Jewish history, but I admit the most appealing (speaking only of taste) is charoset.

Charoset is said to represent the mortar the Israelites used while bonding bricks in Egypt. There are two different kinds: Sephardi, which is cooked and usually paste-like to more closely resemble the mortar of ancient times, and Ashkenazi, which is more rustic and always contains nuts, apples, cinnamon and sweet wine – ingredients King Solomon used to describe the children of Israel.

I like the Ashkenazi version because, well, I’m not Jewish and I can pick on taste alone. I’d like to try making it with pistachios instead of the traditional walnuts, but I’m not sure if I get in trouble for messing with the recipe too much.

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Matzo Ball Soup

There wasn’t much of a Jewish influence where I grew up, in a small town on the inner peninsula of Washington State. Since moving to the east coast and marrying into a family with both cultural and religious Jews, I decided it was high time to explore some of the traditional cuisine.

From what I can gather the real backbone of matzo ball soup is not just the texture of the dumplings themselves, but the character of the chicken broth (pun intended?). You can make a passable version, I’m sure, with storebought stock or broth, but it is really elevated to the next level if you take the time to roast our own chicken to make the stock. Roasting a chicken is simple, hands-off task and its presence in the stock makes a huge difference.

You can either reserve the meat of the bird for another purpose, or do what I did (though it’s not pictured) and slice the breast into pieces and lay them at the bottom of the bowl.

The debate consistently rages over whether one should have light and fluffy matzo balls or dense and substantive matzo balls. These are of the latter category, largely because I used whole grain matzo meal because I liked the 5 grams of fiber per serving. Keep that in mind if your family prefers the light and fluffy dumplings.

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Mustard Braised Corned Beef Brisket

I’ve only ever had corned beef brisket once before. It was sometime around St. Patrick’s Day a few years ago while living in Monterey, CA. We stopped into an Irish bar for dinner and I assumed it would be delicious – Irish bar, St. Paddy’s, corned beef – what could go wrong?

Well, aside from the rather delicious Guinness there weren’t too many redeeming qualities. It was tough, dry, and bland. A washed out pink-y color with a hint of shoe leather and a bouquet of meh.

I decided that this year I’d try making my own, even if I didn’t finally get around to it until the day after St. Paddy’s. While I was searching around the internets looking for methods of preparation I discovered that the cooking style of choice was boiling.

Boiling?

Who boils meat?

Poaching? Yes. Steaming? I suppose. Boiling? No, not so much.

I decided to take the middle of the road and slather the top of the brisket with some whole grain mustard and braise it real low and slow for a couple of hours. The result? Intensely flavorful, beautifully fragrant, fork tender brisket.

Yes, please.

Mustard Braised Corned Beef Brisket

3 lb. corned beef brisket (preferably Animal Welfare Approved)

1/3 cup whole grain mustard

Preheat oven to 300⁰F

Slather the fatty side of the brisket with the mustard. Place in a dutch oven with a tight fitting lid and cook for 2 ½ hours, or until the brisket is fork tender. Slice against the grain and serve.



irish soda bread

I admit I didn’t have too high of hopes for this bread. I’d had soda bread once before several years ago and I wasn’t impressed. It was tough and dense – and incredibly dry. With St. Paddy’s coming up though, I figured it was worth giving a homemade version a shot.

I started off with a recipe from Cooks Illustrated, which always bodes well, and then tinkered with a few of the ingredients. What resulted was addictingly delicious. A little dense, but tender and flaky - almost like a biscuit. It's obviously not a yeast bread, but it's so delicious you don't care.

I admit I wasn’t able to wait until it cooled to room temp – I sliced into it right after I got the photo I wanted. I slathered it with a bit of butter and just about died and went to heaven.

There’s no way this will be relegated to a once per year recipe. It’s so quick and easy to make it will likely become my go-to soup bread. 5 minutes to mix it all together and 40 minutes in the oven? That’s a pretty small price to pay for freshly baked bread with dinner.

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