Ham Steak with Cherry Cola Jalapeno Glaze

Ham steak is my favorite meal. I’d spotted this recipe in the BGE Cookbook and was looking forward to making it. Then Griffin posted pictures from when he cooked it and his version came out way way too hot. I have a feeling what made his so hot is he used a Serrano chili pepper instead of some of the Jalapenos called for in the recipe. Jalapenos measure 3,500-8,000 on the Scoville scale of hotness. Serrano chiles measure 7,000-25,000. That is 3-8X stronger. My version of the Cherry Cola glaze was a wonderful balance of sweet & spicy. When it first hit your mouth the primary sensation was sweet but when the sweet faded away you were left with a peppery hotness. The sauce was a wonderful compliment to the ham steak. This recipe is quite easy to make and I can see it becoming a regular dish around here.



The glaze used Cherry Coke, grenadine sauce, dark brown sugar, corn starch & diced jalapeno chilis.





The Cherry Coke, brown sugar & diced jalapeno chilis are simmered for 10 minutes.





The grenadine & cornstarch are mixed together.





The grenadine & cornstarch are added to the Cherry Coke mixture and are mixed & simmered for another minute.





The glaze mixture was taken off the heat and placed in a food processor where it was blended for 30 seconds. The resulting glaze was thick, sticky & smelled wonderful.





The ham steaks were seasoned with olive oil & black pepper. They have just finished cooking on their first side at 400 degrees direct.





The ham steaks were glazed after they were flipped & cooked for 5 minutes on the second side.





The ham steaks were brought into the Kitchen where they were glazed again & were served with some spicy Southwestern Rice.







The ham steaks were really really good. The remaining glaze was used for dipping. The sauce was a nice blend of sweet & hot & paired very well with the ham. This one is a keeper.

Jim

Well, now you got me wanting to try it again. I had totally forgotten about this cook. Correct me if I'm wrong, and I probably am, but I thought I recalled this recipe using red jalapenos? Am I way off base? I thought I remembered seeing red jalapenos and all I had/could find was green.

You're absolutely correct. The recipe did call for red jalapenos, something I had not heard of until this recipe, nor had I ever seen in my life. After doing a little research I found they fell on the hot end of where green jalapenos fall on the Scoville scale. I simply used four green jalapenos in place of the four red jalapenos. I really almost think this is a case of the recipe writer getting fancy for no particularly good reason. After all the entire glaze spends 30 seconds in a food processor so it's not like you're going to see the red color of the red jalapenos. And green jalapenos can also run as hot as these reds. I'd sort of forgotten your cook too, but when I got the BGE cookbook in August I saw the ham steak recipe and the red jalapenos jogged my memory. This was only the second time I'd ever heard of red jalapenos and the first was when you made your post back in July.

Bottom line: I have a feeling what ran you off the rails was using a Serano. You probably got one that happened to be real hot and that was all it took to throw the nice balance off.

Jim

Ham steak is one of my favorites, too - especially if it's nice and thick with a decent amount of fat. How'd you manage to keep from eating one of them before they were glazed, especially since you know how good it would've tasted with some mustard?

Probably right. I do have 3 or 4 red jalapenos right now. They were green when we bought them, they've just shriveled up and changed color.

I'll give it another go someday.

Bravo, sir! Bravo!! I remember Griffin posting these in the past as well. Just curious, has anyone tried this glaze on chicken wings? Seems like it would be a good candidate. Or would it not work?

Nice job Jim.

Dyal_SC wrote:

Just curious, has anyone tried this glaze on chicken wings? Seems like it would be a good candidate. Or would it not work?

I'm thinking it would work great on some chicken wings.