For a long time, I’ve turned up my nose at supermarket ham steaks, the thin and somewhat watery slices of ham, many without bone, that have been around for as long as I can remember. For a long time, I had a store of superior ham steaks in the freezer, cut from whole hams at Christmas and Easter by the butcher. But the butcher has closed his shop, and I ought to have noticed much sooner than I did that ham simply doesn’t freeze well — just as it says in The Joy of Cooking. 

The other day, then, I thought: new times. And when I came to cook it, I brought a bit of water, some honey, and a splash of bourbon to the boil. I ought to have reduced this mixture to a syrup before sliding in the ham steak, in which case the meat would not have been toughened by overcooking. But the ham was tasty, and no mustard was involved. It couldn’t have been simpler, really.

I served it with a riced sweet potato, into which I stirred nothing but salted butter. A very nice little dinner. 

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