A Dutch oven Thanksgiving-Part Two

By Keith Fisher

Oh yeah, I can taste it now. The candied yams, pickled beets, green beans, turkey, and mincemeat pie. Are these things traditional for your Thanksgiving? All of these things can be cooked in a Dutch oven in your backyard. Pickled beets, however, will need to be made beforehand and brought up from the cellar. For the yams, you might want to line your Dutch oven with tinfoil. The sugars will eat your seasoning off.

Myself, I can’t eat turkey dinner without pickled beats. It’s ingrained in my soul, but I just don’t like mincemeat. If your quest is to become the Thanksgiving chef in your backyard, you will need to think of the little things. Butter, mustard pickles, and cranberry sauce. If you forget, someone will miss them. You can make mashed potatoes, vegetables, gravy, bread rolls, pies, and stuffing in a Dutch oven all it takes is a little planning.

If your goals are only to cook a portion of the meal, that’s great too. Tell the organizer, and make it spectacular. Remember it’s Thanksgiving. As an alternative to turkey, My family turned to Ham, now we have both, so you can guess you know what I’ll be cooking this year.

Pinapple Glazed Ham

12-inch deep or Maca Oval
Cook at aprox 250 degrees for 1 hour then finish with 350 degrees. how to

6-8 lbs ham (bone in)

Marinade
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 cups pineapple juice

Glaze
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 14 ounce can of crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Remove ham from package and clean excess fat from it. Mix marinade in a very large bowl with a lid and place ham into it. Begin injecting the marinade with a syringe. Close the lid and place in the refrigerator or cooler for awhile. Then, remove and repeat the process. (The longer you can marinate the better.)

Place ham in the Dutch oven fat side up. Pour the marinade over the ham into the oven you may wish to add more pineapple juice for cooking liquid. Place Dutch oven with nine coals on the bottom, none on the top.

One hour later, arrange 16 coals on the lid following a checkerboard pattern and 9 coals on the bottom around the outside edge (none in the middle under the oven). Roast until inside temp is aprox.160 degrees. Change your coals during the process when they are spent. (Charcoal coals are at their peak when all edges are gray, after that, they start to loose temperature).

Prepare glaze by mixing all ingredients together in an 8-inch Dutch oven or saucepan. Stir thoroughly, place on low heat stirring frequently until thick.

About thirty to forty minutes before serving, remove all the moisture from around the meat inside the pot. Pour glaze all over the meat and replace the lid making sure you have hot coals around the outside edge of the lid (none in the middle). The glaze will solidify and sweeten the ham.

Serve with your favorite vegetables, and cut meat into chunks. Takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours and serves about ten.

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