Servings: 6-8 serving(s)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours
PrintYour Easter ham couldn’t be simpler, or more delicious, than this country ham with mustard and molasses.
This country ham with mustard and molasses is a recipe from Chef Alain Bossé, also known as The Kilted Chef and is featured in his new cookbook, The Acadian Kitchen.
I caught up with Chef Alain last week to talk about molasses (and enjoy two days of culinary instruction from one of Atlantic Canada’s most engaging culinary ambassadors).
Did you grow up eating molasses?
Chef Alain: “Yes it was a staple in our home…There is no doubt this ham recipe from my new book was done on special occasions.”
Do you have a favourite molasses recipe?
Chef Alain: “My favorite is hot bread, butter and molasses, and recipes for good old fashioned oat and molasses bread. My Mom’s molasses candy or molasses poured on snow was always a treat (also in my new book).”
Are there any strange ways that molasses was used around your home when you were growing up?
Chef Alain: “My dad use to mix the molasses with peanut butter to stretch the peanut butter. Now I still do it, just because I love it.”
What’s your favourite thing about molasses?
Chef Alain: “It is versatile, fun to eat and experiment with. I truly feel molasses is timelessly fun to eat.”
With this country ham recipe Chef Alain shows how a spectacular main course can be very simple. So relax and enjoy this easy recipe for your next family feast.
Country Ham with Mustard & Molasses Recipe
Serves 6-8
Courtesy of Chef Alain Bossé, The Kilted Chef
Ingredients:
- 5 to 7 lb smoked bone-in ham*
- 1 cup prepared mustard
- 2 cups Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
- 1 cup water
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 onion, cut into chunks
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Place ham in a large roasting pan with bone facing up.
- Use a paring knife to score the skin of the ham, pour mustard over the ham and massage it into the all crevices.
- Pour molasses on top allowing it to run down the sides of the ham.
- Add water to the bottom of the roasting pan, add in carrots and onions. Sprinkle with pepper.
- Roast the ham for 2 hours.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F and cook for an additional hour.
- Rotate the pan every hour or so; use a turkey baster to baste the ham with pan juices every 30 minutes.
*If you’re cooking a smaller ham adjust the mustard, molasses and water amounts accordingly. Carrot and onion amounts can stay the same. Pepper can be reduced.
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Love all things with Crosby’s molasses. Recipes are great.
Very NICE!
I love Crosby’s molasses, I remember my mother always used it for her cookies & baking bread. I loved it on my homemade bread as a child. Now I enjoy making some of the same things using Crosby’s molasses with my own grandchildren.
Pineapple Brown Sugar Ham with green bean casserole and macaroni and cheese with a pecan pie.
My favourite Easter meal would be rack of lamb.
My favourite Easter Meal is and has always been Ham and Scalloped Potatos!
Mmmm love molasses….my friend has a waxed container of cooking molasses in her kitchen cupboard that expired in 2014!! She only uses no more than about 1/4 cup with any recipes that she makes…..sometimes only a tablespoonful! She has been using it from time to time with no ill effects. I’m not sure this is safe? She does not listen to me of course! Can you tell me if she should throw this out or continue using it?
Thank you for all these delicious recipes!
June Bonfield, Kitchener, Ontario Canada
Hi June, I think it’s time to replace it. You can often consume molasses after the best-before date, but five years past is quite long.
When I visit Canada and try the Crosby’s molasses, I can’t believe I ate it in so many ways growing up. I prefer golden syrup as in the UK or Australia but I don’t doubt that my parents, relatives, etc. got their minerals from Crosby’s molasses esp. during the Depression when the rations were oats and molasses.
Hi Frances, Yes, Crosby’s molasses has been in Canadian kitchens since 1879. We’re a big part of the country’s culinary history.