I’d seen Paula Deen a couple of times on the Food Network, most notably her appearance on Iron Chef America. She has lent her name to Smithfield, which produces the Paula Deen Crunchy Honey Glaze Spiral Ham. For my parents visit this weekend, we tried one of the hams.

We purchased one at Giant Eagle for $4.39/lb. Giant Eagle will let you reserve them, but it wasn’t necessary this earily.

Preparation was pretty easy: unwrap the ham, line a pan with foil, put foil over the rest of the ham, and bake. Included was a glaze packet that we warmed up in the microwave and drizzled over the meat.

The meat itself was pretty good. It wasn’t too salty, and the glaze made for a nice crunch of crystallized sugar. The spiral slices were cut pretty close to the bone, and we were able to pull a lot of meat off. We have a ton of leftovers; that is to say, about two days. ;)

We had been getting our hams from the HoneyBaked Ham Company. Both hams are good. I would give the taste nod to HoneyBaked, but they are significantly more expensive. My mother-in-law seemed to remember their hams priced at the store for $6-7/lb, but if you order online your cost per pound is even higher. The Smithfield is a good value, and one you don’t have to wait in line at HoneyBaked for. :)