We here at Algonquin like to mark events with food and drink. No holiday is safe. Least of all Easter. What you need is Bill Smith‘s baked ham recipe from Seasoned in the South.

Baked Ham for a Big Brunch

1 tenderized ham (about 18 pounds) (note: Yes, tenderized ham is fully cooked, and I suppose that it would make a fine ham sandwich, but the twice-cooked glazed ham that it becomes turns people into gluttons, standing around the platter long after the meal is over.)

1 cup (packed) light brown suger

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup Grade B pure maple syrup

This recipe could not be simpler. Get a tenderized ham from your butcher. Cook it, covered, like it says on the wrapper. Usually it will say 20-25 minutes per pound at 325 degrees F. You are talking an easy 7 hours here. Put an inch of water in the bottom of the roasting pan. The ham should be on a rack. If you have to use foil to cover the ham, put a piece of buttered kitchen parchment between the ham and the foil.

Uncover the ham for the last hour of cooking. Lift off the carapace of skin that covers the top of the ham. It will turn into cracklins. Scrape away some of the fat that will be revealed hen you removed the skin. It will all be melted, so this can be easily done with a dinner knife. Make a paste of the sugar, mustard, and maple syrup, and coat the ham with it. THis will run everywhere and make a mess, but that’s okay. Baste with the pan juices at least once during this period. The ham is ready when it is all but falling off the bone and is a minimum of 165 degrees F at the center. It needs to sit at least one hour after cooking before it can be sliced.

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–Susannah Long, intern

Bonus points if you find the Easter egg that I hid in this post.

Half and Half

The Half and Half is perhaps better known as a Black and Tan. The nickname is derived now just from the colors, but from the regiment of British soldiers stationed in Ireland after World War I. Called the Black and Tans, their mismatched uniforms resembled the colors of the drink. Ironically, while the soldiers were a notoriously rough lot, the Half and Half is rather smooth. Any easy combination of bitter and mild, you’ll find it a pleasant way to develop a state for stout.

8 oz. chilled lager

8 oz chilled stout.

Pour lager into a chilled pint glass. Pout stout over the back of a bar spoon to help it float over the “tan.” Sometimes ale is used instead of lager.

–Brittany