Filipino Christmas Ham with Pineapple Glaze (Hamon)
The Noche Buena ham: a bone-in ham poached for an hour in pineapple juice and brown sugar, scored, spread thickly with pineapple jam and baked hot until dark and glossy.
Edited by JP Lambiase
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In the Philippines the Christmas ham, hamon, is the star of Noche Buena, the family feast after the Christmas Eve Mass. GMA News reports that the Spaniards brought ham during colonization because a preserved meat could survive the long voyage from Spain, that friars served it at their Noche Buena tables and that it became a status symbol for the elite; food historian Jaime Salvador Corpuz told GMA it now stands for the fruits of a year's work and calls it something that reunites each member of the family (December 11, 2022:). The Freeman (Philstar) says the pineapple-glazed ham has become the most popular Filipino version of the Christmas ham (Elena Peña, December 14, 2018:). Some families cure their own pork leg for days and caramelize brown sugar on it (Foxy Folksy:); this version starts from a bought ham.
📖 Myth check: Is Hawaiian Pineapple Ham From Hawaii? → 📖 Origin story: Why Do We Eat Ham at Christmas and Easter? →
Why it works the kitchen science
Poach first
An hour in pineapple juice and sugar seasons and sweetens the ham from the outside in and keeps it moist before the oven's dry heat.
Jam, not syrup
Thick pineapple jam stays on the scored fat in a 400°F oven and caramelizes into a glaze, where a thin syrup would run into the pan.
🧰 You'll need 8 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Appliances
Pans and pots
Tools
Supplies
Step by step
- Step 1
Dissolve the brown sugar in the water. Put the ham in a large stockpot (at least 12 quarts), add the sugar water and pineapple juice, and top up with juice or water until the ham is covered.
- Step 2
Bring to a boil over high heat, about 15 minutes, then lower the heat and simmer 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let the ham cool in the liquid 10 minutes.
- Step 3
Heat the oven to 400°F. Lift the ham into a roasting pan, cut off the skin, leaving the fat, and score the fat in 1-inch diamonds.
- Step 4
For the optional crust, rub the 1/4 cup brown sugar over the fat and melt it with a kitchen torch until bubbly. Spread the pineapple jam over the whole ham.
- Step 5
Bake uncovered 40 minutes, basting once with the pan juices, until well browned and glossy and the center reads 140°F (145°F for a cook-before-eating ham).
✓ What it should look like - Step 6
Cover loosely with foil and rest 15 minutes before carving.
Filipino Christmas Ham with Pineapple Glaze (Hamon)
Serves 10 · one 8 lb ham · 2 hr 25 min total
Ham and poaching liquid
- 1 bone-in ham (about 8 lb), fully cooked or cook-before-eating, shank or butt half
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 8 cups pineapple juice, plus more if needed to cover
Glaze
- 1 cup pineapple jam (or pineapple preserves)
Optional crust
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, for torching
Equipment: Oven, Roasting pan, Large pot, Instant-read thermometer, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Kitchen torch, Aluminum foil
Method
- Dissolve the brown sugar in the water. Put the ham in a large stockpot (at least 12 quarts), add the sugar water and pineapple juice, and top up with juice or water until the ham is covered.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, about 15 minutes, then lower the heat and simmer 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let the ham cool in the liquid 10 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Lift the ham into a roasting pan, cut off the skin, leaving the fat, and score the fat in 1-inch diamonds.
- For the optional crust, rub the 1/4 cup brown sugar over the fat and melt it with a kitchen torch until bubbly. Spread the pineapple jam over the whole ham.
- Bake uncovered 40 minutes, basting once with the pan juices, until well browned and glossy and the center reads 140°F (145°F for a cook-before-eating ham).
- Cover loosely with foil and rest 15 minutes before carving.
Adapted from Liza Agbanlog's "Pineapple Glazed Ham" (salu-salo.com), as printed by Elena Peña in The Freeman (Philstar), December 14, 2018, as written for 10. The article does not say whether the ham is cured, smoked or fully cooked; we use a US fully cooked bone-in ham and add FSIS's 140°F target (145°F with a 3-minute rest if yours says "cook before eating"). Removing the skin before scoring, and the optional torched sugar, follow Foxy Folksy's homemade hamon. The Philippine Star. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Leftovers, the Philstar way: sprinkle slices with sugar, pan-fry them and serve with pan de sal or sliced bread. Heat leftover ham to 165°F.
- Boil down 2 cups of the poaching liquid until syrupy for a sauce at the table (Foxy Folksy does this with its own liquid).
- Kawaling Pinoy advises against spiral-cut hams for poach-then-bake recipes because they can dry out (via search summary).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The Spanish brought ham to the Philippines. Documented as GMA News's account (2022); no date is given for when hamon joined Noche Buena.
- Ham was first a dish of friars and the elite. Documented as GMA's account; we found no older primary source.
- Pineapple is the traditional glaze. Disputed: Philstar calls the pineapple-glazed ham the most popular Filipino version, but sugar-crusted hams caramelized with a hot iron or torch are also traditional (Foxy Folksy's torch method); we did not find a source dating the pineapple style.
- Pork at Christmas signals Catholic identity. Folklore: repeated in a student folklore archive (search summary only).
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