Ham With Apricot Glaze Recipe

Set a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the ham dry—seriously, moisture kills the sear. Slice it thick, maybe a quarter-inch, against the grain so it stays tender instead of chewy.

Why You’ll Love This Smoked Ham Steak

Takes 46 minutes total. Comfort food that doesn’t feel like you’re doing much. Ham gets a golden crust, the sauce is creamy and tangy at the same time, and it works as a weeknight dinner or something you’d serve to people coming over. No fuss. The grainy mustard cuts through the richness. One skillet. Leftovers are fine cold the next day, honestly better if you dip the ham in sauce again.

What You Need for Ham With Apricot Glaze

Smoked ham—picnic or collar cut works. 800 grams. Not too thin or it dries out while you’re making the sauce. Vegetable oil. You need it hot enough to actually sear without smoking the kitchen down. Unsalted butter. Salted burns easier. Mustard seeds and crushed black peppercorns. Not optional. They bloom in the butter and that’s where the flavor lives. Sage sprigs, fresh garlic halved crosswise. Dry white wine—whatever you’d drink. Beef broth. Grainy mustard, the kind with seeds still in it. Heavy cream or cooking cream depending what you have. Salt if you need it.

How to Make Smoked Ham Steak With Creamy Sauce

Heat the oil until it shimmers. Toss in half the ham. It should sizzle—that’s the sound you want. Two and a half minutes per side. You’re looking for golden edges, a little crust forming. Don’t pack the pan. If they’re touching too much they steam instead of getting brown. Pull them onto a warm plate. Do the second batch. Same heat, same time.

Pour off any oil left in the pan into a bowl. Never down the sink hot. That’s asking for trouble.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add butter. Wait until it foams—not brown, just foaming. Dump in the mustard seeds, cracked pepper, sage, and those garlic halves. Stir. After about 90 seconds the aroma just hits you. The yellow butter quiets down. If it starts turning brown, lower the heat. Burnt butter tastes bitter and wrecks everything.

Pour the wine in slowly. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. You’re pulling up all those brown bits—that’s actual flavor, not just color. It steams and hisses. Keep stirring until it’s almost gone. Just a thin glaze left on the bottom.

Add the beef broth and grainy mustard. Stir until it’s smooth. Smell it. Tangy. Woody from the sage. Let it bubble gently. You want it to reduce by maybe a third. Don’t walk away. Sauces thicken fast once they start.

Lower the heat a bit more. Pour the cream in slowly. Swirl the pan. It gets silky, coats the back of a wooden spoon. That’s when you know it’s right. Pull out the sage and garlic. Toss them.

Put the ham back in. Spoon sauce over it. Let it warm for three or four minutes. Don’t blast it with high heat or the cream breaks and the ham gets tough.

Ham Steak Tips and Common Mistakes

The sear happens in the first 30 seconds. Don’t move it around. Let the meat sit. That’s how you get crust. Moving it constantly keeps it steaming.

Sauce too thin? Mix a pinch of cornstarch or flour with cold water off the heat, stir it in, then reheat gently. Too thick? More broth or cream. Whisk it.

Smoked ham is already salty. Taste before you add salt. Usually you don’t need it.

Garlic halves and sage—don’t skip them. They dissolve into the sauce flavor-wise. Whole cloves or leaves would be weird because you can’t eat them easily once they’re in a creamy sauce.

Cold ham reheats better if you warm it separate from the sauce, then combine on the plate. Keeps it from drying out.

Ham With Apricot Glaze Recipe

By Emma

Prep:

18 min

Cook:

28 min

Total:

46 min

Servings:

4 servings

Ingredients

• 800 grams smoked ham (picnic or collar cut, 1 3/4 pounds)
• 25 ml vegetable oil (1 2 teaspoon)
• 50 grams unsalted butter (3 1 2 tablespoons)
• 12 ml mustard seeds (2 1 2 teaspoons)
• 6 ml crushed black peppercorns (1 1 4 teaspoon)
• 2 fresh sage sprigs, plus more for garnish
• 2 large garlic cloves, halved crosswise
• 75 ml dry white wine (1/3 cup)
• 140 ml beef broth (about 2/3 cup)
• 20 ml grainy mustard (1 1 3 tablespoons)
• 160 ml 15% cooking cream or heavy 35%

Method

1. 1 Pat ham slices dry—1 1 4 cm thick, no soggy edges. Moisture kills sear, trust me. Slice against grain to stay tender. Use picnic or collar if toupie missing; slightly fattier but better bite.
2. 2 Heat oil in heavy skillet medium-high. When shimmer appears, toss in half ham. Sizzle should sing—2 1 2 minutes each side. Look for golden edges and a little crust. Don’t overcrowd pan or they steam not crisp. Reserve on warm plate. Pour off any residual oil into a heatproof bowl for disposal, never dump hot grease down sink; let cool first.
3. 3 Turn heat to medium, add butter. Once foaming but not brown, add mustard seeds, crushed pepper, sage sprigs, and garlic halves. Stir constantly—aroma blooms after 90 seconds, yellow butter bubbles quiet down. If butter turns brown too fast, lower heat. Avoid burnt butter—bitter ruins sauce.
4. 4 Pour wine steadily, scrape pan bottom to lift caramel bits—the real flavour nuggets. It will steam and hiss. Simmer until nearly dry, only faint liquid glistens on pan.
5. 5 Add beef broth and grainy mustard. Stir till smooth; sauce smells tangy, woody sage notes deepen. Bubble gently—reduce by about a third. Watch closely or dries too quick and thickens unevenly.
6. 6 Lower heat slightly. Stir in cream slowly, swirl pan. Sauce thickens to coat back of wooden spoon—silky, luscious. Adjust seasoning with salt if ham under-seasoned; often smoky ham is salty enough. Remove sage sticks and garlic; compost or discard.
7. 7 Return ham slices to pan. Spoon sauce over. Let warm 3-4 minutes. Don’t overheat lest cream splits and ham toughens.
8. 8 Plate ham, spoon generous sauce. Scatter fresh sage leaves bright and fragrant on top. Serve with buttery mashed potatoes or crusty country bread. Sauce is a damn bargain to soak up.
9. 9 Tip: if sauce too thin, finish with a pinch of flour or cornstarch slurry off-heat then reheat gently. Too thick? Splash more broth or cream, whisk briskly.
10. 10 Substitutions: chicken broth ok instead of beef. For dairy-free, swap butter for olive oil and use coconut cream cautiously; flavour way different but creamy texture remains.
11. 11 Storing leftovers: keep sauce and ham separate in fridge. Reheat gently to avoid drying ham and breaking sauce.

Nutritional information

Calories

350

Protein

22g

Carbs

3g

Fat

28g

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Frequently Asked Questions About Pork Main Dishes With Ham

How thick should the ham slices be? Quarter-inch. Maybe a hair thicker. Thinner and it dries out while the sauce reduces. Thicker and it doesn’t cook through before the edges burn.

Can I use chicken broth instead of beef? Yeah. Lighter, less woody. Sauce won’t be as rich. Works fine for a pork main course if that’s what you want.

What if my cream curdles when I add it? Heat was too high. Lower the heat before it goes in. Add it slowly. Swirl instead of stirring hard. If it already split, strain out the solid bits and just keep the liquid part. Not ideal but it still works.

Can I make this ahead? Make the sauce, cool it, store it separate from the ham. Reheat the ham in a dry pan, sauce in another pot, combine them on the plate. Keep them apart or the ham gets waterlogged.

Should I use fully cooked ham or raw? Fully cooked. That’s what smoked ham steak is. You’re not cooking it through, just getting color and warming it in the sauce. Raw ham takes way longer.

Any good sides for this? Mashed potatoes soak up the sauce. Crusty bread works. Green salad cuts the richness. Just something to carry the sauce because you don’t want to waste it.