As the owner of Nicolosi Foods, Rob Nicolosi always said, "Cooking our Berkshire ham and adding a glaze is like putting ketchup on a filet mignon". Our Berkshire Black Applewood Smoked Ham is raised on family-owned farms from the highest-grade pork. Therefore, it does not contain any added preservatives, chemicals, nitrate or food coloring as other brands may have. This gives our products a shorter shelf life which is harder for us, but allows us to provide a better quality product to our customers.
One misconception about our Berkshire Ham is that it needs to be coated in a glaze. Adding a glaze to our Nitrate-Free Applewood Smoked Ham is not necessary, it has the perfect tenderness and a slight Applewood smoke flavor that would be masked by anything too overpowering. That is why this past Friday we spent a few hours in our test kitchen to compare two simple holiday ham recipes: one cooked with Ginger Ale and another cooked with 7 Up.
Time | 45-60 minutes Serves | 12-16
Cooking Time: 1 Day of Thawing - Oven set to 345 degrees - 12-15 minutes per pound
Ingredients: Nicolosi's Berkshire Black Ham, Ginger Ale or 7 Up
We grabbed two Bone-In Berkshire Black Applewood Smoked hams, a bottle of 7 Up, a bottle of Ginger Ale and two cooking pans to start our experiment.
We placed both hams meat side down in the pan. This helps the fat drip down the sides of the ham and it also bastes it in the process. From there we preheated the oven to 345 while we added both Ginger Ale and 7 Up (about 1 inch) to the bottom of each pan.
When the oven was done preheating, we covered the ham in tinfoil and baked each until their internal temperature reached 165 degrees. For the last fifteen minutes of cooking, we took off the covering and basted the ham in the natural juices and soda in the bottom of the pan.
Once the inside temperature of your Berkshire ham reaches 165 degrees, take it out and serve!
Pro Tip: once cut and plated, drizzle some of the natural juices from the bottom of the pan for extra taste.
We cut up the finished product and concluded that the Ginger Ale was our favorite. Ginger Ale gave our ham a slightly sweet taste that paired well with our Berkshire Black Applewood Smoked ham, it did not take away from the flavor or quality. Test it out and see which you think is better!
