How to cook the perfect Easter ham
How to cook the perfect Easter ham
Cooking the perfect Easter ham is simple but there are a few important things you need to know
How to choose the right ham for you
City ham or Country ham?
A city ham is what you most commonly find in your grocery store’s refrigerated meat section. This is what I’ll be working with and what you find on most holiday dinner tables. A city ham is wet cured in a salty brine. I like a smoked city ham for the added depth of flavor.
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A country ham is usually dry cured – rubbed with salt, sugar, and sodium nitrate or nitrite (to prevent spoiling). Country hams can be found smoked or unsmoked, cooked or uncooked. Most country hams should be soaked to remove excess salt before heating and eating.
To spiral or not to spiral?
Most city hams are fully cooked and just need to be heated to a safe eating temperature of 165 degrees. City hams can be found whole or spiral sliced. Spiral sliced hams are easy to carve and cook quicker than an uncut ham. I find the slices too thin for my taste so I prefer to cook a whole, not sliced, ham. I like to score an unsliced ham making grooves to catch the glaze.
How to cook the perfect Easter ham
Let the ham come to room temperature for about an hour before cooking
Heat the oven to 350 degrees (275 degrees for a spiral sliced ham)
Line a roasting pan with foil if desired, this makes clean up much easier
Remove the ham from the packaging and place in the roasting pan
Brush the ham with one of these DELICIOUS HAM GLAZES (only use half the glaze, save the rest for later)
Cover the ham with foil and bake until the ham reaches 165 degrees, usually about 15 minutes per pound.
Remove the foil and brush with remaining glaze
Broil the ham for a minute or two. Watch the ham closely so it doesn’t burn
