Sweet and Sour Ham

David retired on Friday. Thirty-five years at Boeing, and the retirement party was a Zoom call. Forty colleagues in little rectangles on a screen, giving speeches about a man who spent three and a half decades designing things that fly, and the send-off was pixels and audio lag and someone who forgot to unmute. James and I watched from the couch ╬ôçö David had forwarded the Zoom link, proud and shy about it ╬ôçö and I watched my father's face when his manager said, "David Park is the most reliable engineer I've ever worked with," and David's chin trembled, just slightly, the way it does when he's feeling something he doesn't have words for. Karen sat beside him, clapping after each speech. She looked so proud of him. He looked lost.

I called him that evening. He answered on the first ring, which told me everything. "I don't know what I'm going to do with myself," he said. This is a man who has risen at 5:45 AM every weekday for thirty-five years, who defined himself by the precision of his work, who understood the world through engineering tolerances and load-bearing calculations. Retirement is a structural failure he didn't design for. I said, "You could learn to cook." He laughed ╬ôçö a real laugh, which was good. He will not learn to cook. David Park will do what David Park has always done: find a project. Reorganize the garage. Build shelves nobody asked for. Persist.

To mark the occasion, I made galbi-jjim ╬ôçö braised short ribs, the Korean celebration dish, sweet and savory, the meat falling off the bone after three hours of low, patient heat. It's not a weeknight dish. It's a Saturday dish, an occasion dish, the kind of thing you make when something matters. I used the recipe from Maangchi's cookbook, which I have now cooked from so many times that the spine is cracked and the galbi-jjim page is stained with soy sauce. James made rice. We ate at the table with actual place settings ╬ôçö napkins, the good bowls ╬ôçö because retirement deserves formality even when the retiree is in Bellevue and the celebration is in Capitol Hill and the distance between them is a pandemic.

I saved David a container. Drove it to Bellevue Saturday, left it on the porch. He texted later: "That was delicious. Your mother wants the recipe." Your mother. Karen. The woman who raised me wanting my Korean recipe. Something about that sentence ╬ôçö the ordinariness of it, the way it assumes I belong to both the food and the family ╬ôçö undid me. I sat in the car and cried. Not sad crying. The other kind. The kind that means something is healing and you can feel it happening.

Galbi-jjim is my go-to when something truly matters — but when I want to share that same spirit of sweet, savory, fall-apart tenderness with people who are just discovering my kitchen, this Sweet and Sour Ham is the bridge I reach for. It carries the same soul: a low, patient braise, a glaze that balances sweetness against something sharper, and the kind of smell that fills a house and makes people feel expected. If Karen wants a recipe she can make in Bellevue, this is one I can hand her without a single apology.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 45 min | Total Time: 2 hrs | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 to 4 lb boneless fully cooked ham
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Place the ham cut-side down in a snug baking dish or Dutch oven. Score the top in a crosshatch pattern about 1/2 inch deep if the ham has a fat cap.
Make the glaze. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, pineapple juice, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, garlic powder, and ground ginger. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
Thicken. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with the cold water until smooth. Pour into the simmering glaze and stir until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Glaze and cover. Pour half the glaze over the ham, making sure it runs into the scored cuts. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour.
Baste and finish. Remove the foil, spoon the remaining glaze over the ham, and return uncovered to the oven. Bake an additional 40–45 minutes, basting once more halfway through, until the glaze is caramelized and glossy and the ham is heated through (internal temperature 140°F).
Rest and serve. Let the ham rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon any pan juices over the slices. Serve with steamed rice or roasted vegetables.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sweet and Sour Ham — The Taste of Something Healing