The Grenache's fruitiness brought out the honeyed notes in the glaze while highlighting the light flavor and texture of the pork, and the wine finished with a mouthfeel like a velvet wrap-a perfect accent to an elegant evening at home. For all this, the wine didn't feel heavy. The rich, perfumy aromas invited me in with red and black fruit, loam and raspberry chocolate.

(My favorite for cold weather is a 15-bean soup.)ДЇor a side dish, bolster the ham with healthy honey-roasted carrots or tender steamed green beans, or prepare another winter favorite like mashed potatoes.ДЇor a wine pairing, I drifted toward a medium-bodied red for the late fall season, looking for something that had plush and alluring fruit but wasn't overpowering.ДЄ Grenache from South Africa was just luscious enough to wobble on the edge of hedonistic. A boneless ham is easier to slice, but a bone-in ham typically gives you more flavor-and you can use the bone in a soup later. Some recipes call for cloves to be inserted into the meat, but I've found this isn't necessary. The grooves allow the glaze to permeate the meat and sweeten the flavor. You can score the ham yourself (crosshatching the surface about 1/4 inch deep with a sharp paring knife) or purchase it spiral-sliced. Then, leave it in the oven for about an hour, reapply the glaze every 20 minutes or so, and crank up the heat at the end to produce a crackling exterior. It's easy enough to purchase a fully cooked ham at any grocery store and coat it with the simple tasty glaze that I share in the recipe below. Have I ever spent upward of $70 to buy one of these famous half hams? No. HoneyBaked Ham, the company that makes those golden beauties that adorn many a holiday table, was founded in the same city. I grew up in a cloistered pocket of a neighborhood in Detroit. That's the philosophy behind our '8 & $20' feature. Add in a good bottle of wine for less than $20, and you've got a feast for family or friends. That's all it takes to make an entire meal from scratch.

Daily chef boneless spiral sliced ham