What's for Dinner? Baked Ham (and disaster!)

My original plan last night was to bake a ham for dinner. It was a beauty - over 9lbs of perfect ham, waiting to be cooked. Preheated my oven to 325 degrees. As I was preparing my ham, I typed my ingredients:

 

Ham

1c pineapple juice
1c of root beer

.25 c of brown sugar
.25 c. melted butter

 

I combined the pineapple juice and root beer in the bottom of a glass 9 x 13 pan. Both were room temperature. I took my ham out of the bag, removed that sneaky plastic thing on the bottom, and placed it in the pan. Next, I combined the brown sugar and butter and rubbed it all over the ham. I didn't have any foil to cover it so I left it uncovered for now.

 

After it had been in the oven for about 20 minutes, I heard a CRACK! Then, HISSSSSSSSSS! I thought that perhaps the juice had boiled over or something had dripped. When I opened the oven door, one side of my pan was in pieces on the bottom of the oven with all of the liquid spilling slowly onto those pieces. I took out the pan and put it in my nonstick 9 x 13 to drain while I picked out pieces with tongs. Then, while I was fixing the mess, another CRACK! The rest of the pan crack and basically bursted all over the kitchen. 

I cleaned the mess, checked the ham for glass, re-prepped it in another 9 x 13 and put it back in the oven for 3 hours total.

With a bone-in uncooked ham,  cook it between 18-22 minutes per pound at 325, according to Hormel Foods. Here's a guide for cooking ham from them:

Cut or Type of Ham	Weight/Pounds	Approximated Minutes/Pound
SMOKED HAM, cook-before-eating
Whole, bone in	10 to 14	18 to 20
Half, bone in	5 to 7	22 to 25
Shank or Butt Portion, bone in	3 to 4	35 to 40
Arm Picnic Shoulder, boneless	5 to 8	30 to 35
Shoulder Roll (Butt), boneless	2 to 4	35 to 40
SMOKED HAM, fully cooked
Whole, bone in	10 to 14	15 to 18
Half, bone in	5 to 7	18 to 24
Arm Picnic Shoulder, boneless	5 to 8	25 to 30
Canned ham, boneless	3 to 10	15 to 20
Vacuum packed, boneless	6 to 12	10 to 15
Spiral cut, whole or half	7 to 9	4 to 18
FRESH HAM, uncooked
Whole leg, bone in	12 to 16	22 to 26
Whole leg, boneless	10 to 14	24 to 28
Half, bone in	5 to 8	35 to 40
COUNTRY HAM
Whole or Half (Soak 4 to 12 hrs in refrigerator; then boil, covered with water. Drain, glaze, and brown at 400°F 15 minutes.)	10 to 16, whole; 5 to 8, half	20 to 25

 Overall, my ham turned out delicious and I had about 5lbs left. Tonight, I'm making chicken cordon bleu with some of the pieces. Also, it'll make at least 10 sandwiches. Even though the one item cost me $14+, I will have plenty of meals I can make.

Don't let a possible disaster ruin your meal - learn to salvage what you can and roll with the punches.