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Bon Appétit’s old-fashioned Southern Easter menu

Discover how make chef Scott Peacock’s sweet and savory holiday dishes

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  Have a Southern Easter feast
March 18: Chef Scott Peacock makes his traditional holiday recipes: sweet and savory ham, honey-whipped sweet potatoes, creamy biscuits and more.

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TODAY
updated 11:55 a.m. ET March 18, 2008

This Easter, treat your ham to a Southern makeover. Scott Peacock, Southern food expert and award-winning chef at Watershed restaurant in Decatur, Ga., shares his traditional holiday recipes — ham topped with a sweet-savory glaze, whipped sweet potatoes mixed with honey, creamy biscuits and more:

Old-fashioned ham with brown sugar and mustard glaze
Bon Appétit

Makes 10 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 10-pound smoked ham with rind, preferably shank end
1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup whole-grain Dijon mustard
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup honey

Recipe continues below ↓
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DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325° F. Place ham in large roasting pan. Pour apple juice over ham. Cover ham completely with parchment paper, then cover ham and roasting pan completely with heavy-duty foil, sealing tightly at edges of pan.

Bake ham until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of ham registers 145° F, about 3 hours 45 minutes. Remove ham from oven. Increase oven temperature to 375° F.

Remove foil and parchment from ham. Drain and discard liquids from roasting pan. Cut off rind and all but 1/4-inch-thick layer of fat from ham and discard. Using long sharp knife, score fat in 1-inch-wide, 1/4-inch-deep diamond pattern. Spread mustard evenly over fat layer on ham. Pat brown sugar over mustard coating, pressing firmly to adhere. Drizzle honey evenly over.

Bake until ham is well glazed, spooning any mustard and sugar glaze that slides into roasting pan back over ham, about 30 minutes. Transfer ham to serving platter; let cool at least 45 minutes. Slice ham and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

What to drink: Sauvignon Blanc is a good match for the ham and the asparagus, a notoriously wine-unfriendly ingredient. We like the Joel Gott 2006 Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley ($18), which has tropical fruit and citrus flavors with floral aromas and a crisp finish.

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Cream biscuits
Bon Appétit

Makes 20 servings

"I'm on a mission to get people over their biscuit anxiety," says chef Peacock. His advice? Knead the dough briefly just until it comes together, but don't work it too much. Also, don't twist the biscuit cutter. The twisting motion seals the edge of the dough, which can prevent the biscuit from rising completely.

INGREDIENTS

4 1/2 cups (or more) bleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Homemade Baking Powder
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup half-and-half

DIRECTIONS

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 450° F. Combine 4 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl; whisk to blend. Add butter cubes and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream and half-and-half and stir just until mixture is moistened and begins to clump together.

Turn out dough on floured work surface. Knead gently just until dough holds together, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 6 turns. Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Using tines of fork dipped into flour, pierce dough all the way through at 1/2-inch intervals. Using 2 3/4- to 3-inch-diameter biscuit cutter or cookie cutter dipped in flour, cut out dough rounds. Transfer dough rounds to 2 ungreased rimmed baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.

Bake biscuits until light golden brown and tester inserted into centers comes out clean, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking, about 14 minutes total. Transfer biscuits to cooling racks and cool slightly.

TIPS

Do ahead: Biscuits can be baked 4 hours ahead. Let stand uncovered at room temperature. Place biscuits on ungreased rimmed baking sheets and rewarm in 375° F oven for 5 minutes before serving.

MANAGE YOUR RECIPES