An Easy Quick Dinner Recipe- Southern Style Ham Slice With Honey Mustard Glaze

This is an easy quick recipe for traditional southern style ham. The honey mustard glaze compliments the ham perfectly and the preparation couldn't be easier. Just mix up the glaze and pour over the ham, and bake at 325 degrees until tender. What could be easier?

These ham slices are available in your meat case pre-cooked and pre-sliced. Choose one that is the appropriate size for your family. You can cut them into serving size steaks and pan fry them on the stove top quickly or add a glaze and bake in the oven. You will find that they make a very easy dinner that will please everyone.

Quick and Easy Southern Style Ham Slice

1 fully cooked ham slice (1 to 1 1/2 inches thick)

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

Juice of one lemon (about 2 1/2 tablespoons)

1/3 cup honey

1. Score the ham slice around the edge to prevent curling by cutting through the fat just barely into the meat at several places around the slice. Place ham in a baking dish.



2. Combine the mustard, lemon juice, and honey. Pour the honey mustard over the ham.



3. Bake at 325 degrees until the ham is tender, 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the thickness of your ham slice.

These ham slices are fully cooked, but must be heated through. A little additional cooking will help to tenderize the ham steak.

Serve with braised carrots and a green salad or green beans, and a dinner roll.

This honey mustard sauce is good on chicken also. Season chicken breasts with garlic salt and pepper. Glaze with the honey mustard sauce and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until done.

"A Dash of This" and a "Pinch of That" - Traditional Terms Used in Southern Cooking

Southern cooking is totally about how you add spices and seasonings to your food. When I say spices, I don't mean hot and spicy, I simply mean how you use cooking spices to bring out the traditional flavors in your dishes. This method of southern cooking really started when the African American slaves prepared their food many years ago. They used terms such as "a dash of this" and "a punch of that" in referring to cooking spices and seasonings for their food.

Why were these terms used?

These terms were used because back then there were no measuring devices, cookbooks, or cooking classes to learn from; they had to second guess their measurements and they only had each other to rely on to remember main ingredients. So they created terms that were easy for them to season their food. They also developed ways to know when their baked food was done by saying " bake until golden brown." Today, this method of cooking is still popular in many southern kitchens.

Sometimes adding "a dash of this" and "a pinch of that" may not be enough spice for your dish, just always remember to add spices according to your taste and what compliments the dish you're preparing.

Any one who makes southern and soul food know that recipes are only a base for you to start with. The amount of seasonings and cooking spices a recipe call for, may be more or less to your taste. What's important about this method is that you control the amount of spice that you use. Only you can determine the amount of seasonings to add for a particular recipe.

Because the base of southern cooking is spices, you will find cooking terms, "a dash of this" and "a pinch of that" throughout my new cookbook, Soul Food Lovers' . The recipes in the cookbook also allow you to use your judgment when adding spices to your food.

Today, many southerners still cook without a recipe, just by remembering main ingredients and adding seasonings to their taste. So, go ahead, add "a dash of this" and "a pinch of that" to bring out the true flavors of your southern recipes.

For more information on cooking spices and to get a better understanding on using them , check out these resources:

Resources:

http://www.soul-food-advisor.com/cooking-spices.html

Deep Fryers - Our Recipe For Great Southern Fried Chicken

As an avid cooking and deep frying fan from south Louisiana, I have tried many different recipes to find the perfect home-fried chicken. I have dabbled with various south Louisiana spices and deep fryers looking for the right combination. Sometimes, less can mean more when referring to ease of cooking and quality of the final product. In this article, I will show the recipe that I find to be the easiest and most effective way for deep frying chicken southern style. Personally, I prefer to use a professional style deep fryer with all the bells and whistles. However, a simple deep frying pot is all you really need to get started.

Recipe for Southern Fried Chicken

Ingredients needed include:

1. Canola oil (or any other frying oil that you might prefer)

2. Chicken (cut into pieces)

3. Ice

4. Cayenne Pepper

5. Zatarain's chick fri

6. Zatarain's fish fri

7. Garlic power

8. Water

Steps:

1. The first thing we do is heat our grease (canola oil). Using one of our deep fryers, we place enough canola oil to cover all the chicken we will be boiling. Do not overload the deep fryer (or frying pot). We suggest only frying a few pieces of chicken at a time.

2. While the grease is heating, we clean our chicken in water and then cut into pieces that will be fried. Then, we place the cut pieces into a pan of water making sure that all pieces are covered.

3. Next, we sprinkle cayenne pepper over the water and mix with the chicken (the amount of pepper used depends on the fryer's preference); as a general rule, make sure that you at least cover the top water layer.

4. While the chicken is soaking and the grease/oil is heating, we prepare the following mixture: one bag of Zatarain's chick fri + one bag of Zatarain's fish fri. To this, we add cayenne pepper and garlic powder (again, the amount depends on the deep fryer's preference); the first time using this recipe, we suggest using small amounts of each (1-2 teaspoons). You can always adjust with future recipes.

5. Once the oil/grease is boiling (temperature of about 350 degrees), we remove the chicken from the water and place in our batter mix (see step 4). Make sure each piece of chicken is appropriately battered.

6. Add the chicken to the deep fryer and cook for approximately 16 minutes. If using a deep fryer with an internal basket, you can simply raise the basket once the chicken is cooked. Always follow the manufacturer's guidelines when using deep fryers. Safety is very important because you want to do everything possible to avoid getting burned with hot grease. If you have any questions or doubts at all about what you are doing, make sure to get these doubts cleared before using hot grease or deep fryers.

7. Once the chicken is cooked, remove carefully from the deep fryer or frying pot using the appropriate utensil(s). Once cooled enough, enjoy some of the best southern fried chicken imaginable.

NOTE: Because we love frying foods so much, we decided to open our own home-based internet business to sell some of the most highly recommended deep fryers. In addition, we sell George Foreman grills and rice cookers online.

Southern Cooking Techniques

You can find hundreds of recipes for Southern Cooking on the internet, but what they fail to tell you is the techniques needed to turn those recipes into real southern dishes.

On the subject of Southern recipes, I'm sorry to say that what is often represented as a Southern recipe, is not. For instance, when you see a recipe for Southern cornbread that includes sugar, that is NOT Southern. I lived all my life in the South and traveled the world but have never met a Southerner that puts sugar in cornbread. We call that "Yankee" cornbread. That is cake, not cornbread.

Back to the subject at hand, assuming you have real Southern recipes, you can still wind up with a dish that is not truly Southern if you do not employ Southern cooking techniques. You may produce something that is good but the technique makes it more than good, it makes it special.

Cooking Method:

Southerners fry more of their dishes than any other people I know. Therefore, for the most part, Southern cooking is not low fat. However, you can lessen the fat content with the choice of cooking oil you use. If this is a concern, don't use animal fats, lard or saturated oils. I generally use corn or safflower oil. Believe it or not, with dishes that do not require high temperatures, I use olive oil. The point here is to just be prepared to fry a lot with Southern cooking.

Cookware:

Traditional Southern cooking calls for cast iron. You should obtain an 8 and 10 inch skillet and medium pot for your cookware. Cast iron is inexpensive and can frequently be found at thrift stores for two or three dollars, if you have one near you.

The cast iron retains heat a long time and burns fingers readily. But it transfers heat like no other material. You must "cure" or "season" your cast iron before using or you will have a problem with sticking and rust. While the manufacturers instructions for curing are inadequate, they will do. Never use anything but cast iron for cornbread and never cook anything but cornbread in your "cornbread skillet". For most recipes, you will want to heat the cast iron (like pre-heating the oven) before you add the ingredients.

Regular Milk vs. Buttermilk:

In most situations, when a recipe calls for milk, in Southern cooking, you would use buttermilk. You should always use buttermilk for your cornbread and biscuits. It provides a unique flavor that screams "Southern". Here's a tip: if you do not keep buttermilk on hand (I don't), you can make your own by adding about a spoon of white vinegar to a cup of regular milk. Stir and let sit about a minute. You will have a substitute buttermilk for cooking purposes (I do not recommend drinking....although I have never tried it).

Cooking Time:

Many Southern dishes (mostly vegetables) are cooked much longer than you would find in restaurants or homes in other parts of the country. Specifically, green beans, okra, turnip greens, mustard and collards. Vegetables cooked Southern style are NOT bright colored and crunchy (like Chinese stir fry). They are tender and flavorful. An exception to the "crunchy" observation is fried okra. Okra is cooked until nearly burned. It is coated with cornmeal and is, indeed, crunchy. On the other hand, other vegetables such as green beans are cooked around two hours until they are tender and dark green in color.

Seasoning:

This is one of the most important techniques that distinguishes Southern cooking from other styles. Spicy (hot) flavors are seldom used except for cajun cooking, which is a style of cooking all it's own. Onion, bacon and salt are used extensively for seasoning. All greens, black eyed peas, green beans, most anything cooked by boiling in water, is seasoned with salt, a chunk of onion and a slice of bacon (or bacon drippings).

While not a technique, it is important to combine certain foods to produce a traditional Southern meal. Combinations of the following are typical. Fried chicken, fried pork chops, greens (turnip, mustard, collards), black eyed peas, fried okra, cornbread and green beans. So, for a real Southern treat, get an authenic Southern recipe, follow these techniques and watch your family ask for more.