| Cheri's Place Raisin Sauce | 
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Now no ham is complete without a good raisin sauce, in my opinion, so let's make the raisin sauce while the ham is resting!
You will need:
If you don't own a good whisk  I highly recommend buying one. It really is a necessity for your kitchen and they're not expensive. You can't beat a good whisk for gravies and sauces. If you've been using a spoon you'll never go back to that spoon once you've used a whisk.
Which whisk should you buy? There are many types of whisks so I'll try to help you wade through all the hype. When shopping for a whisk always look for the one that has the most wires. The more wires the whisk has the more work it will do for you with every stir. If you have a whisk that only had 4 wires you would have to stir twice as fast and twice as much to get the same effect as one with 8 wires so it's pretty easy to see why you want a good one. The shape of the whisk will determine how much air it will incorporate into the mixture. I like the balloon whisks rather than the flat ones because they are better at incorporating air into whatever you're whisking. I also prefer the oval shaped balloon whisk to the round one. You don't want the one with the little ball in it as it won't do any better job and will just make more mess. You may want to buy a smaller one and a larger one so you can use the smaller one on smaller pans or bowls, to scramble eggs, etc. As for the material I highly recommend buying one made from stainless steel. It will be easier to clean, will last forever and you won't have to worry about acidic ingredients reacting with the whisk so you can use it for tomato sauces too. You can get one that has a silicone coating over the wires if you have non-stick cookware that won't let you use metal utensils.
Roux Now about the thickening for the sauce. I always use a roux to thicken gravies and sauces except for very few exceptions. I use cornstarch and water to thicken raisin sauce because the ham juices are typically more fatty to begin with than other meat juices. Since a roux requires equal amounts of butter and flour I don't think ham juices need that extra butter. However, if you want to use a roux I'll add some instructions for using a roux also.
First pour the juices that cooked from the ham into a saucepan. Add the raisins and bring the juices to a simmer. Let the raisins simmer for just a few minutes to rehydrate and plump.   In a cup or bowl mix the cornstarch with enough cold water to dissolve. Make sure you use cold water to dissolve the cornstarch because cornstarch will thicken almost immediately when it hits a hot substance and you don't want it to thicken until you add it to the juices.
Since the amount of juices you have will depend on the type and size of the ham I'd rather teach you how to determine the amount yourself than give you specific amounts that may not be right for the ingredients you are thickening. After all, that is my point here to get you to the point where you just go in your kitchen relax and have fun.
For about a quart of juices you'll want to mix about 1/2 cup of cornstarch with just enough cold water to dissolve it and make a thin mixture or about 1/2 cup of cold water. If it's too thick it will be harder to keep it from lumping than a thinner mixture so let that be your guide. Also keep in mind that you can mix up a little more cornstarch/water mixture very quickly and easily so it's not crucial that you get exactly the right amount mixed the first time. However, when I'm making a roux I usually make a little more than I think I'll need and if I throw a little out it's no big deal.
When the cornstarch mixture is dissolved well, start whisking it into the ham juices simmering in the saucepan a little at a time letting the juices return to a simmer after each addition. By the time the juices simmer again a cornstarch mixture has thickened so if your sauce isn't as thick as you want it just add a little more of the cornstarch and water mixture, which and return to a simmer, until you get the desired thickness. When it comes to a simmer and is the desired thickness it's done.
Remove from the heat and serve.
Keep in mind that sauces thickened with cornstarch don't rewarm well so you want to make the raisin sauce last thing just before serving the meal.
If you prefer to use a roux just melt the butter in a sauce pan then add the flour and whisk it in until smooth. Cook for at least a minute while whisking then remove from heat. It has to cook at least 1 minute to get rid of the starchy, raw flour taste.
How long you continue to cook the roux depends on how dark you want it. Needless to say a dark brown roux will have a stronger flavor than a light roux so it depends on the intended use. For a raisin sauce the juices from the ham with the raisins plus the flavor of the pineapple, brown sugar and maraschino cherries is already very flavorful. So I use a light roux for raisin sauce, which is only cooked for about a minute.
How much roux do you need to make? Here's a good rule of thumb guideline. A half cup of flour and a stick of butter cooked to a light roux will thicken about a quart of broth/juices.
However, the more you brown the roux the less it will thicken. In cajun cooking it's typical to brown the roux to a dark brown or what is known as a "brick" roux. If you brown a roux to the dark brown stage it only has about 1/4 of the thickening effect as a light roux that is only cooked 1 minute so keep that in mind when determining how much roux to prepare.
The process for the sauce with cornstarch/water or flour is the same until you get to the point of thickening it. The only difference is if you are using a roux you will need to prepare your roux first then whisk it into the simmering juices and bring it back to a full boil while whisking before removing the sauce from the heat.
I usually add a little of the pineapple and some of the cherries from the ham to the sauce also. It really makes a pretty and flavorful sauce to spoon over the ham slices.
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