Ham with Whiskey Sauce

My sister is visiting for a couple of weeks to help me sort out the stuff in the house. Since she arrived in time for St. Patrick’s Day, we went trolling for an appropriate recipe. I’m well equipped with Irish cookbooks, and we’d just been grocery shopping, so we had all sorts of ingredients. Here’s what we settled on.

Ham with Whiskey Sauce

As usual I tinkered with the recipe (adapted from The Country Cooking of Ireland, by Colman Andres), because there were only the two of us and the term “ham steak” can mean a lot of different things in terms of size. But this recipe worked out well. As you might guess, between the brown sugar and the Irish whiskey, the sweetness of the sauce paired well with a slice of smoked ham.

Ingredients:

2 Tblsp butter
2 pieces of ham (whatever size you like for two servings)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Tblsp flour
1 Tblsp dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
1/2 cup beef stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the ham steaks on both sides. Remove the ham from the skillet, and set aside, covered with foil, and keep warm while you make the sauce.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the same pan, the add the sliced onions. Cook slowly for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Reduce the heat to low. Sprinkle the flour over the onions in the pan, and mix with the pan juices. Cook briefly, until the liquid has been absorbed by the flour. 

Add the brown sugar and stir, then add the whiskey and beef stock and stir until smooth (if you’re worried, the alcohol in the whiskey will cook off quickly, but the flavor will remain). Whisk in the cream and add salt and/or pepper if you think the sauces needs them.

Put a ham steak on each plate and spoon the sauce over each. Serve with rice, noodles or potatoes.

Slainte!