Grandma Hall's Ham Loaf

Grandma's recipe for ham loaf has been the best ham loaf so far.  Not too salty.  Not too sweet.  Nice dark brown exterior, while the interior was just right.  Not too firm, not too soggy. 

I thought it fitting that I found it, unexpectedly, on the back of another of her recipes.  I have been looking for it for years.  

Baked it last Sunday while I was going through all of the boxes of family "heirlooms" as we work on wrapping up the estate of my aunt, my Grandma Hall's daughter, the last of my parents' generation.  

It took me a while to find a place who would grind ham for me. Morgan's in Penn Yan does it.  No one else seems to grind ham.  And I really didn't want to do it myself, although I do have an old-fashioned meat grinder. 

---Barbara

Grandma Hall's Ham Loaf
(adapted from her original recipe)

Serves 6

1 lb. ground baked ham
1 lb. ground pork
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1.5 cups bread crumbs (4 slices of bread)
lots of pepper

Mix in loaf.

Sauce for basting:
1 heaping Tablespoon dry mustard
1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups brown sugar (loosely, not packed)

Cook until thin syrup.

Baste 400 degrees 1 hour

My notes:
Preheat oven.  Combine well so your loaf will stay together.  Place in a baking pan with a rim, and form into a log.

Whisk the sugar, vinegar, and dry mustard together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, watching to be sure it doesn't boil over.

Bake in oven for 1 hour or more, until 160 degrees internally, basting every 10-15 minutes.

Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

The drippings do turn very black from the sugar in the glaze.   Smells like toasted marshmallows when you are basting towards the end.  Either line the baking pan with aluminum foil, or let the pan soak overnight.

B