For the Best Holiday Ham, Light It on Fire

My holiday season is overstuffed with traditions accumulated throughout the years. I have inherited them from both my parents and my in-laws, and there's even a growing collection my husband and I have cultivated for our own kids. We carol, decorate sugar cookies, and fill our Christmas boots with candy, but one tradition stands apart from the rest⸺our flaming holiday ham.

Affectionately referred to as the Flambo Jambo, our flambéed Christmas ham predates me by decades, and no one can remember exactly when it began. My grandma does recall that one year, she didn't have orange juice for the ham glaze and substituted orange liqueur. How fire was added to the mix is unclear, but family history was made, and the flaming ham became a tradition.

If you’re looking for a new holiday tradition, I offer up for your consideration the low-effort, high-spectacle ritual that is the Flambo Jambo. It is an event, a centerpiece, a statement, yet it requires nothing more than a bottle of whiskey and a lighter. It works for any ham, whether big or small, spiral-cut or boneless, and with or without a glaze. Some years, we even go retro and garnish the ham with pineapple rings, each punctuated with a toothpicked maraschino cherry.

Regardless of how your ham is prepared, all you need to do is pour about one-quarter cup of booze over the ham and set it ablaze. I recommend using a stick lighter so you can keep a safe distance from the flame. Let it burn, as the oohs and ahhs fill the room, until the fire dissipates and the show is over. 

In the end, the Flambo Jambo is a short spectacle, but in a season stuffed with rituals big and small, it’s the most poignant. The two minutes I spend mesmerized by flames are my Christmas meditation, a quiet moment of wonder that grounds me within the chaos of the season.