McCormick’s Look Book is Inspiring

Directions

1. Line the crock pot with foil or one of those handy-dandy crock-pot liners (that I always forget to pick up, so I end up just lining with foil. Just be sure to do either, because it makes clean up so much easier). Layer the bottom of the lined crock-pot with brown sugar.
2. Press whole cloves into the ham so they are evenly distributed. You may score the ham for easier insertion if you wish, or go the ‘easy’ route and get a spiral cut ham like I do and push the whole cloves randomly into the sliced sections.
3. Place the ham in a slow cooker cut (flat) side down.
4. Pack the brown sugar on top of the ham, pressing into the cloves. Pour the maple syrup over the ham – some of the brown sugar will get washed away, but what stays on is a bonus. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle more brown sugar on after I pour on the maple syrup.
5. Season the apple cider with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, ground cloves and vanilla. Pour into the crock pot until you get to the fill line. Preference is that you only want about 2 inches of ham above the surface, but if your ham exceeds the top of the crock pot like mine usually does, it doesn’t always work out that way. Add the orange peel to the pot.
6. Cover and set to Low. Depending on the size of the ham, and whether or not it’s fully cooked or uncooked, you’ll want to cook it anywhere from 4 to 10 hours. Usually I get a spiral cut pre-cooked ham and it’s usually ready in about 3-1/2 to 4 hours on low.

If your ham is too big to fit in your crock pot, you can cut it to fit, or when you line the crock pot with foil, make sure there’s enough extra to basically wrap over the top of the ham. When the ham is that big for my biggest crock pot, I’ll cover the top with foil, then set the crock pot lid on top just to make sure the heat is contained.

I also check the ham frequently, and if there’s any part that sticking up out of the liquid, you want to either baste it frequently to make sure that part doesn’t dry out, or if you’re all about ‘easy’ (like me), just turn the ham over every so often to make sure every surface has a chance to be covered. I’ll usually turn the ham after about 2 hours, then flip it back about a ½ hour before it’s time to eat.

The leftovers for sandwiches (or reheated with leftover sides) are just as good as it is when it’s fresh out of the crock pot.  I don’t know why I only make it twice a year, I really should do it more often.