| How to Bake a Ham Dec 22nd 2012, 12:00 Baked ham, considered a staple of special meals at holidays such as Christmas or Easter, is a simple but tasty dish that even the most novice cook can master in short order. Most hams in today's supermarkets have undergone a preservation process and have been partially or fully precooked. Some hams are not precooked at all, and still others, known as "fresh," have not undergone any preservation process. How to bake a ham will vary depending on whether it is fresh or preserved and whether it has or has not been precooked. Prepare the Ham - Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) if using a conventional electric or gas oven. Set to 325ºF (170ºC) if using a convection oven.
- Read the label accompanying the ham. This will help you to determine whether it is fresh or preserved and whether it has or has not been precooked. As outlined in the next section, the state of the ham determines its cooking time.
- Remove and discard any packaging, and place the ham, fat side up, in an uncovered baking dish or on a rack in a roasting pan. The baking dish is best lined with foil.
- Remove the skin (rind) from the ham. Score the ham with a knife, making a diamond pattern. Traditionally, a clove is inserted into each diamond but you can skip this if you find clove flavor too strong, or use bits of dried fig instead (these will caramelize deliciously onto the ham during baking).
- Half a cup of white wine poured into the base of the pan before baking will prevent the ham from sticking. Use water or juice if you don't want to use wine.
Prepare the Glaze - Check to see if your ham came with a packet of glaze. If it did, then prepare the glaze following the directions on the package. Set aside for later.
- Alternatively, make a homemade glaze. Mix equal parts brown sugar and orange juice or maple syrup, stirring well until the brown sugar is dissolved, then set aside for later.
- Note that some recipes recommend adding half of the glaze over the ham before baking begins, using the other half to baste the ham later during baking. You might like to experiment.
Bake the Ham - Place the ham in the preheated oven for baking. The amount of cooking time depends on the ham's uncooked or already cooked state, as follows:
- Bake a partially- or fully-cooked preserved ham for 10 minutes per pound (0.5 kg) to reheat the ham completely through.
- Bake a preserved ham that has not been precooked at all for 20 minutes per pound (0.5 kg).
- Bake a fresh bone-in ham for 20 to 25 minutes per pound or a fresh boneless ham for 30 to 35 minutes per pound (0.5 kg).
- Remove the ham from the oven 30 minutes before the cooking time is up to apply the glaze. Baste the ham using a pastry brush, then return the ham to oven to finish cooking.
- Test the baked ham for done-ness by inserting a meat thermometer into the middle of the ham. When the thermometer reads 160ºF Fahrenheit (71ºC), the ham is done.
- Finished.
- Leftover ham reheats well and can be used in many "second generation" dishes to breath new life into a tired dinner lineup.
- Make sure you don't throw away the glaze packet if one came with your ham. To save on time, this is the quick way of making the glaze.
Edit Related wikiHows Edit Sources and Citations - The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Thirteenth Edition, by Marion Cunningham
- Stephanie Alexander, The Cook's Companion, p. 491, (2004), ISBN 978-1-920989-00-2
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