cooking smoked ham?

[Skitterbug]

Late last year we decided to purchase some pork from our local butcher. It was a packaged deal so we had a number of different items. I'm finally down to the smoked ham.

I assumed that I do have to cook it in some manner so I tried preparing one of them by baking it uncovered in the oven. It turned out dry and unappetizing and I was very unhappy with my effort. So I need some help from anyone who has had experience in preparing one. I've "googled" but most of the recipes I've found are for smoking the ham. No need for that since it is already smoked. I am considering putting the thing in a covered roaster with some pineapple juice and trying this to see if it will work?

Any suggestions for a cooking method that will turn out a delicious product will be appreciated! Thanks!

[VegasNath]

How about boiling it? I'm not a big fan of ham, but I have been tempted by the mother in laws anual boiled ham n' parsley.

[Skitterbug]

How about boiling it? I'm not a big fan of ham, but I have been tempted by the mother in laws anual boiled ham n' parsley.

Boiling it? You mean plunk it into a pot of water with some parsley and boil the daylights out of it - actually until it is tender probably? Interesting..... What happens then? Is it sliced from the bone and eaten hot or is it used in sandwiches?
Thanks for posting. This is thought provoking!

[ChrisGreaves]

I'm finally down to the smoked ham.

"Up to", surely?
I'm sorry to hear that you are on your last legs. (grin)


I thought that "smoked ham" was effectively cooked, or at least, preserved. Hence no need for further cooking.

Can't you just slice it and eat in sandwiches with some fresh baked no-knead bread?
Or slice thicker chunks and use them as ham steaks - heat them on a skillet for two minutes or so, serve with eggs etc.

[Skitterbug]

I'm finally down to the smoked ham.

"Up to", surely?
I'm sorry to hear that you are on your last legs. (grin)


I thought that "smoked ham" was effectively cooked, or at least, preserved. Hence no need for further cooking.

Can't you just slice it and eat in sandwiches with some fresh baked no-knead bread?
Or slice thicker chunks and use them as ham steaks - heat them on a skillet for two minutes or so, serve with eggs etc.

Your humorous remarks <up to......last legs...etc.> caused lots of laughter here! Thanks!
I'm not sure that the ham is cooked so that part of my problem. If it is cooked, then your suggestions take care of the question about how to use the meat. I suppose my best bet would be to place a telephone call to the butcher's place and see what exactly a "smoked ham" is. I just wanted to avoid doing it.....cause I'm

[ChrisGreaves]

I just wanted to avoid doing it.....cause I'm

Why not just do what most loungers do and preface your remarks with "A friend of mine wants to know if ..."?
If you'd rather mention me by name, we'd better clear up by PM whether we are friends or enemies.
Did we ever clear that up?

[BobH]

Hi Skitterbug!

I grew up in North Carolina where 'country' ham was considered a delicacy. It was sometimes smoked, too, but usually it was just cured with salt and hung for awhile then taken down and soaked in blackstrap molasses and pepper and hung to cure for awhile longer. I think we generally got into hams from hogs slaughtered the previous December in about September or later.

As for cooking, we mostly just sliced it and pan fried it. I can remember my mother cooking a whole ham once. She did as you suggested - put it in a covered broiler pan - with water but no pineapple. To keep it from drying too much on the top side, she made a dough cover about 1/2" thick to cover the top of the ham. Mighty good!

In Spain, curing hams is an art and a science. Different regions do it slightly differently. In most tapas bars, you get 'jamon' with many of the delicacies they serve. I don't think any of it has been cooked but all has been salt-cured.

Mind you, I'm no cook and you should take my descriptions as just that, 'descriptions'. I couldn't tell you for sure exactly how my mother cooked a whole ham.

[ChrisGreaves]

As for cooking, we mostly just sliced it and pan fried it. I can remember my mother cooking a whole ham once. She did as you suggested - put it in a covered broiler pan - with water but no pineapple.

Mention of mother did it. My mother was fascinated when she got to Australia (from UK) in 1956 to discover that sliced/pan fried ham and a ring of Queensland Pineapple was almost a national dish. For my parents both hams and pineapples were a luxury available only to WWII flight crews.

In Spain, ... In most tapas bars, you get 'jamon' with many of the delicacies they serve.

Ah hah! As in the French "jambon"

[ChrisGreaves]

Any suggestions for a cooking method that will turn out a delicious product will be appreciated! Thanks!

If I've got the url right, there's a lovely quotation, with ugly photo, of Green Eggs and ham here.

[Doc Watson]

Hi Skitter !!

As Bob pointed out, a smoked or cured ham is, in effect, "cooked". No need to do more than heat it up. You can get uncooked hams from any butcher and most supermarkets and bake or boil them.

From here..... "Hams may be fresh, cured, or cured-and-smoked. The usual color for cured ham is deep rose or pink; fresh ham (which is not cured) has the pale pink or beige color of a fresh pork roast; country hams and prosciutto (which are dry cured) range from pink to mahogany color.

Hams are either ready-to-eat or not. Ready-to-eat hams include prosciutto and fully cooked hams; they can be eaten right out of the package. Fresh hams and hams that are only trichina treated must be cooked by the consumer before eating; these hams will bear the safe handling label."

There are also several cooking methods and recipes on the site. HTH.

[Skitterbug]

So okay, I finally got brave enough and called the butcher. He told me that the ham is not fully cooked. He suggested putting a glaze on it, adding moisture, covering it and shoving it into an oven heated to 350℉. I believe he said 10 minutes per pound? Does that sound right. I need to go to Doc Watson's link and see what is suggested there.

Thanks for all the "feed" back! I'll see how this experiment in cooking turns out and post the results!

[silverback]

As it's uncooked, you might like to try this recipe if your joint has skin/any fat left on it.

Cidered glazed gammon
4lb piece boned and rolled gammon
1 quart (40 fl oz) cider.

Topping
4 oz Demerara sugar
1 level tablespoon mustard powder

Spiced peaches
15oz can peach halves
1 oz Demerara sugar
¼ level teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons peach juice
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
Mustard and Cress or Watercress

The day before cooking, soak joint in cold water overnight. Next day, remove from the water and put in a large pan. Add the cider and enough fresh cold water to cover. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently, allowing 20 minutes per pound. When cooked, remove from the pan, cool slightly and peel off the skin.

Mix together the sugar and mustard. Score the surface of the fat in diamond shapes and pat the dry mixture on the fat.

Put the joint in a meat tin and cover the lean meat with foil. Brown in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. Brush with a little melted butter during browning to give a rich golden colour.

Drain the peaches. In a large, shallow pan, dissolve the sugar with the cinnamon, peach juice and vinegar. Add the peach halves, cut sides downwards, cover, and poach gently for 15 minutes.

Arrange the peaches and garnish around the joint. Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!

[Skitterbug]

As it's uncooked, you might like to try this recipe if your joint has skin/any fat left on it.
Enjoy!

Your recipe sounds good but a little tedious? I like "simple and quick" preparation even if the item has to cook for hours. I'm not exactly a "lazy" cook but if an item has too many steps to it, I generally won't give it a go. But if you want to fix and serve this one to me, just ring the dinner bell and I'll be there!

[Skitterbug]

I thawed one of the hams (I have two left to use) but wasn't very adventuresome with it. It was boneless. For one meal, I sliced two pieces and fried them in the skillet for sandwiches which turned out pretty yummy. The rest of the ham, I diced and cooked with diced potatoes and green beans. This was also good. So 1 down and 2 to go! End of report for today!

[BobH]

I thawed one of the hams (I have two left to use) but wasn't very adventuresome with it. It was boneless. For one meal, I sliced two pieces and fried them in the skillet for sandwiches which turned out pretty yummy. The rest of the ham, I diced and cooked with diced potatoes and green beans. This was also good. So 1 down and 2 to go! End of report for today!

[ChrisGreaves]

Any suggestions for a cooking method that will turn out a delicious product will be appreciated! Thanks!

Last week I grabbed a 1KG packet of "Pork Back Roast" at my local (Toronto) No Frills supermarket.
At $2/lb for protein I figured it's hard to beat.
No bones.
Coated in pea-meal.
I suspect it's where Canadian "back bacon" comes from.

I wrapped the 1KG in aluminium foil and popped it into the oven at 350 for 3 hours.
I now have a slab of cooked meat which I can slice for sandwiches, crumble for salads, cube it into split-pea-soup ...
I suppose if I were into bacon-and-eggs I could slice and re-heat in a pan.

If it's still on special I would grab another 3 packets and freeze them.

7.JPG

[Skitterbug]

How about boiling it? I'm not a big fan of ham, but I have been tempted by the mother in laws anual boiled ham n' parsley.

I decided to try once again to prepare a smoked ham in a manner that would be tasty. This time I used VegasNath's suggestion! Excellent results! It was tender and yummy.
I have one more ham to use........ Not sure yet what I'll try. There are several good suggestions in this discussion. I'll see how ambitious I am when the time for "doing the deed" comes!

[tomyrush]

I am not an accomplished cook, but I can tell you how my mom fixed precooked (smoked) ham.

She used a knife and scored lines on the outer surface - effectively making big X's

She made a paste of brown sugar and mustard which she applied all over the outer surface.

Cooked it covered with aluminum foil (probably 300f - 350f) until it was heated thru - probably an hour or so.

There were times she added molasses to the paste - don't know why.

The paste mixture gave the ham a sweet flavor on the outer portion.

Tom

[hlewton]

I haven't read all the replies so I hope what I give you here is not a repeat. We usually cook a 16 to 18 pound smoked (fully cooked) ham in a large roaster. Put enough water in the pan to have about an inch of water in the bottom once the ham is in place. Cover and bake for an hour at 350 degrees F.

Pull the ham out of the oven. Pat brown sugar on top of it. Place wooden toothpicks in the top of it and place pineapple rings around the toothpicks which keeps them in place during the baking. Pour the juice from the pineapples over the ham. Stick cloves into and all around the ham. Cover and bake about 1.5 more hours at 325 degrees F. Slice after removing the cloves, toothpicks, and pineapple rings and serve hot . It is absolutely delicious.

We make such large hams first because we always have a house full when we make a ham and second because we love the left over ham to eat on a sandwich, with eggs, or my favorite make bean soup out of it.

Of course it should go without saying but the ham broth makes excellent gravy and what's leftover from that goes into the bean soup. I often times add a bit of ham bullion to both my gravy and bean soup.

[Skitterbug]

I haven't read all the replies so I hope what I give you here is not a repeat. We usually cook a 16 to 18 pound smoked (fully cooked) ham in a large roaster. Put enough water in the pan to have about an inch of water in the bottom once the ham is in place. Cover and bake for an hour at 350 degrees F.

Pull the ham out of the oven. Pat brown sugar on top of it. Place wooden toothpicks in the top of it and place pineapple rings around the toothpicks which keeps them in place during the baking. Pour the juice from the pineapples over the ham. Stick cloves into and all around the ham. Cover and bake about 1.5 more hours at 325 degrees F. Slice after removing the cloves, toothpicks, and pineapple rings and serve hot . It is absolutely delicious.

We make such large hams first because we always have a house full when we make a ham and second because we love the left over ham to eat on a sandwich, with eggs, or my favorite make bean soup out of it.

Of course it should go without saying but the ham broth makes excellent gravy and what's leftover from that goes into the bean soup. I often times add a bit of ham bullion to both my gravy and bean soup.

Thanks for the information! I have one ham left to try preparing. I think I've been rushing the process by using too high of oven heat! Your way of fixing a ham sounds yummy especially right now since it is dinner time here!