DIY: Rum Ham

Whether you’re thinking about hosting a dinner at Easter or Christmas or you just want to eat some god damn ham- make it a rum ham. What is a rum ham? Simply put, it’s a ham infused with a rum-filled glaze. A rum ham is an excellent option for two main reasons:

First and foremost, rum ham plays a pivotal role in one of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s best known episodes. Serve a rum ham to friends with a sense of humor and you’ll never turn back.

Secondly, rum (liquor made from sugar cane) is actually a great complement to ham and offers flavors we’d expect from a glazed ham, which is most often made with brown sugar and molasses (other sugar cane products). In other words, it actually tastes great, too.

The best part is that making a rum ham really isn’t much different than making your average brined/glazed ham- it just requires you to buy some rum.

What you’ll need: A 1-1.5 lb ham, 750ml bottle of rum (dark rum made from molasses is best), brown sugar, water, salt, molasses, cloves and peppercorn

How to rum-ify your ham: Pour about 1/4 of your rum bottle into a pot. Cover your pot with a lid and bring that sugary booze to a boil.

Allow your rum to boil for 3 minutes. If you’re feeling frisky, toss some peppercorns and cloves into your boiling rum, to taste.

As your rum boils, make and mix up a brine by combining 1/4 cup salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup of molasses in a mixing bowl.

Once your rum is done bubbling, pour it into the mixing bowl with 1.5 cups of water and combine it all!

From here on out, it’s all about marination. Fill a large and sturdy Ziploc with your rummified brine and seal your ham in there overnight (or as long as possible). If you want to get hardcore about it, whip out your handy meat injector and fill the ham with brine.

Once sufficiently brined, cook your ham as you normally would, and be sure to let everybody know that their food might just get them tipsy.