A banquet dish of Hangzhou and Suzhou cuisine in which the prime cut of cured Jinhua ham is scored, steamed repeatedly with rock sugar and Shaoxing wine to drive off its salt, then finished with a honeyed syrup and ringed with lotus seeds, candied cherries and green plum. The result is deep amber, translucent and fork-tender, balanced equally between salty and sweet.
The dish descends from the 'honey ham' (蜜火腿) recorded by the Qing scholar-gourmet Yuan Mei (1716–1797) in his Suiyuan Shidan (Recipes from the Garden of Contentment): 'Take good ham, cut it skin-on into large squares, and stew it in honey and wine until extremely tender — best of all.' Yuan adds that he ate it once at the Suzhou residence of Yin Jishan, the Jiangsu governor, where 'its fragrance carried clear through the door, sweet and fresh beyond compare.' Built on Jinhua ham, the cured ham of central Zhejiang, the dish became a classic of the Hangzhou and Suzhou table; it is paired with Yangzhou's 'clear-broth ham square' (清汤火方) as the 'two squares, north and south' (南北二方).
The ham is soft enough to yield to chopsticks yet holds its scored squares; under the glossy amber syrup the lean turns rose-red and the fat reads as translucent jelly. The first taste is candied and floral from honey and osmanthus, but the cured ham's savory depth rises underneath, so each bite settles into a salty-sweet balance rather than dessert. Lotus seeds add a soft, mealy sweetness and pine nuts a toasted crunch.
Cured Jinhua ham is intensely salty, so the craft lies in steaming it through several changes of liquid: each round of rock sugar, Shaoxing wine and water is steamed for an hour or more, then the salty liquid is poured off and replaced, gradually leaching out chloride while the sweet liquor and gelatin from the slowly dissolving connective tissue migrate in. Scoring the square down to the mid-fat opens channels so heat and syrup penetrate evenly and the fat renders to jelly without the block falling apart. Honey is added only at the end and merely brought to a boil for the glaze, because its aroma compounds and fructose are volatile and scorch-prone — prolonged heat would dull the fragrance and darken it bitter — and a little starch slurry thickens the rendered syrup so it clings as a glaze. The classic artisanal version repeats this steaming over as long as three days; restaurant and home versions compress it to several hours.
Variations
The prime cut is debated: many cooks insist on the 'upper square' (上方), the leanest, near-boneless and most prized part of the leg, while others choose the 'middle square' (中方, the 'ham heart'), prized for balanced fat and lean — three-year-aged ham is preferred either way. Garnishes vary with lotus seeds, pine nuts, candied cherries, green plum, osmanthus sugar or rose petals. Within the broader Jinhua-ham banquet repertoire the dish sits beside the braised hock 'fire heel' (蜜汁火踵) and plain honeyed ham (蜜汁火腿); its northern counterpart, Yangzhou's clear-broth ham square, takes the same cut in a savory consommé rather than a sweet glaze.
On the Palate
Where Honey-Glazed Jinhua Ham sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 130 min
Choose a prime block of three-year-aged Jinhua ham (upper-square cut). Soak and scrub off surface salt and rancid fat, then trim it into a neat square about 12 by 8 centimeters.
- 210 min
Blanch the block in boiling water, then with the skin down score the meat into small squares cutting only halfway into the fat, so the piece stays whole.
Watch outScore the meat down only halfway into the fat, not through — this opens channels for the syrup while keeping the block whole.
- 3150 min
Set the block skin-down in a bowl, cover with water, and steam over high heat about 2.5 hours; pour off the salty liquid.
Watch outSteam the ham through several changes of liquid, pouring off the salty water each time — this is what leaches out the harsh cure so the ham turns savory-sweet.
- 4130 min
Add rock sugar, Shaoxing wine and fresh water to cover, steam another hour, then pour off the liquid; repeat once more to leach out the remaining salt and sweeten the ham.
- 535 min
Add sugar-stewed lotus seeds around the ham and steam 30 minutes more; pour the rendered liquid into a pan and invert the ham onto a serving plate.
- 65 min
In a wok, fry pine nuts in oil heated to about 50 percent until golden and set aside.
- 710 min
Boil the reserved liquid with honey, thicken with a starch slurry and stir in osmanthus sugar; pour this glaze over the ham, ring it with the lotus seeds, and scatter the pine nuts and candied cherries on top.
Watch outAdd the honey only at the very end and just bring it to a boil for the glaze — cooked long, its aroma bakes off and it browns bitter.
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