How To Cook Ham

Cooking a Ham is such an easy thing to do really but so many people imagine it must be difficult. I'm going to show you how to cook a ham that will have the whole familly coming back for second helpings.

Buying You Ham

Make sure you get in early if your ham is for Christmas or Easter, the best ones will definitly go fast. You want to choose a ham that is firm and I prefer 'on the bone' as the bone actually ads flavour and can be used after the main occasion for pea and ham soup or other leftover ham recipes. Choose a ham that has been prepared and smoked naturally if possible - these are usually slightly more expensive but well worth it.

Selecting A Glaze

You will want to select a glaze for your ham, Honey is always an excellent choice and mustard is also popular - I often use a mixture of honey and mustard for my glaze but there are many other glazes to choose from.

The technique of cooking ham in overview is a few simple steps:

How To Cook Ham - step by step instructions

1. Peel the skin carefully off your ham exposing the fat underneath.
2. While removing the ham skin try to leave as much of the fat intact as possible.
3. 'Score' the fat witha sharp knife. This means cutting lines about half an inch apart in one direction and then doing teh same accross the cuts you have already made. This leaves a diamond shaped pattern over the ham.
4. I love cloves with ham and I always use them - you will need a packet of whole cloves which you will firmly  push into the middle of each of the diamond shapes you have scored into the fat.
5. Pre-heat your oven now to 350 Farenheit or 170 Celcius.
6. Get a large baking dish or pan that can contain all the succulent juices that will come out of teh ham while cooking.
7. Mix your glaze of choice, In this example I will use a bottle of runny honey and 2 tablespoons of hot mustard, or mustard powder.
8. Now brush your glaze over the ham reserving some for later.
9. Place ham in oven which should be at temperature.
10. If your ham was raw (very unusual) you will need to cook it for proabably 5-6 hours. However most hams are smoked and cooked balready when you buy them and only need heating through to bring out the flavours. 1-2 hours is usually enough.
11. If your ham was pre cooked then baste the ham every half hour- If your ham was raw and needs to be fully cooked through then baste every 1-2 hours.
12. If your spare baste runs out then baste the ham with the juices in the pan.

Enjoy! and I hope this article on how to cook ham may help a few people.