Sweet Bourbon Ham

Ingredients

• 1 (8 1/2 pound) cooked bone-in ham (shank end)
• 40 whole cloves
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon whiskey
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Remove skin and excess fat from ham, leaving a fat layer about 1/4-inch thick. Score ham in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife. Push cloves into the center of the scored diamond shapes. Place ham with cut side down into a roasting pan.

Bake ham in the preheated oven until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat, not touching bone, reads 125 degrees F (52 degrees C), about 2 hours.

Combine brown sugar, whiskey, and black pepper in a bowl until glaze is smooth.

Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Baste ham with 1/3 the whiskey glaze. Return to oven and bake until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F (60 degrees C), basting ham with whiskey glaze every 10 minutes. Cover ham loosely with a tent of aluminum foil if ham browns too quickly.

Let ham rest for 15 minutes before carving.