Shanghai Honey-Glazed Ham

Shanghai Honey-Glazed Ham

　　Honey-Glazed Ham is a traditional delicacy from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang regions. It first gained fame in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Since the late Qing Dynasty, it was first served in restaurants specializing in Suzhou and Yangzhou cuisines, where it quickly became a favorite among diners. Today, it is best prepared at Shanghai’s historic Laobanzhai Restaurant and Yangzhou Restaurant, and has earned a renowned reputation both domestically and internationally. Diners from China and abroad who have tried this dish all sing its praises. In the late 1950s, when Chairman Mao Zedong visited Shanghai for an inspection, the Shanghai Hotel invited the three Mo brothers—Mo Yougeng, Mo Youcai, and their sibling—to prepare the “Honey-Glazed Ham.” Chairman Mao was highly satisfied after tasting it, and his staff even went out of their way to ask the Mo brothers about the specific preparation method. In recent years, foreign guests who have sampled the “Honey-Glazed Ham” at the restaurant have also complimented it, saying: “The dish is novel, exquisitely presented, perfectly seasoned, and truly a fine art of the ancient land.”

Honey-Glazed Ham is made by boiling and simmering the upper part of a ham. The finished dish features a fiery red color, transparent sauce, tender and falling-apart ham, and a sweet and savory taste with a deep aftertaste. The specific method involves thoroughly washing a whole piece of lean meat from the upper part of the ham. It is then boiled in a soup pot until about 80% tender, removed, and the bone is taken out. The meat is then flattened using a bowl and left to cool. After cooling, it is briefly chilled in the refrigerator, then taken out and sliced into thick pieces (with the lean meat still attached to the skin). In a clay pot, the thick slices of ham are simmered with chicken broth to remove excess saltiness. If it is still too salty, the original broth is drained and replaced with fresh chicken broth to further reduce the saltiness, until the ham slices are completely desalinated. The ham is then transferred to another pot, with 50 grams of water and 200 grams of sugar added, and simmered over low heat for one hour until the sauce becomes thick and glossy, resulting in the finished dish.