Cooking Ham Instructions

Hams are commercially available in fresh, cured as well as cured and smoked form. An easy tip for the identification of ham is its color; fresh hams appear pale pink, while cured hams are pink or deep rose color. Whatever be the type, cooking ham is not as difficult as it sounds. You can prepare some best ham recipes with simple culinary tips. Let's discuss in brief about cooking ham instructions, which you can follow to make a delicious ham recipe.

Instructions for Cooking Ham

While speaking about cooking ham instructions, the tips vary based on the ham type that you have purchased. For example, precooked hams do not need cooking, rather they taste good after heating internally at a controlled temperature about 150 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25-30 minutes. On the contrary, if you purchase frozen hams, then you can prepare the meat by thawing (preferably in cold water) prior to cooking. Following are some of the popular and tasty ways to cook ham:

Roasting Hams: Roasting hams is most preferred for cooking large cuts. In order to roast hams, trim skin and a portion of the fats from the edges. Make sure that you retain some fats, so that the meat remains moist and tender during roasting. Then place the ham with the cut side down (for half cut hams) or the fat side up over a roasting pan. Pour water in the roasting pan (water amount varies based on the size of the pan) and cover the ham with a baking foil. Place the ham over a preheated pan and bake the ham until the internal meat temperature raises to about 135-140 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the cooked ham for about 15 minutes before serving.

Frying Hams: Frying is the simplest and fastest way to cook ham slices. If available, use a thick and deep skillet for frying hams. Similar to other methods of cooking hams, remove skin and fats from the edges. For better and uniform cooking, make the slices of about 1/4-3/8 inch thickness. In case, there is enough fat portion retain in the ham slices, you can fry them without using oil. Nevertheless, if there is no fat part in the slices, you can fry the hams in cooking oil. Fry the ham over medium heat and turn occasionally until both the sides of the slice turn brown. After ham frying is done, trim the remaining fats (if any) and serve.

Ham Broiling: If you are planning to cook ham slices, then broiling the hams over a broiler will taste better. First of all, remove the skin and make slits from the edges at regular intervals. Following this, lightly brush the slices with vegetable oil or glaze from both sides. Preheat the broiler before placing the ham slices. Based on the thickness, place the slices at least 3-5 inch away from the heat source. For 1/2-1 inch thick ham slices, place 5 inch away from the unit. You can turn the ham slices occasionally. Usually it takes about 8-10 minutes to cook an 1/2-1 inch thick ham slice. Once the fat on the edges turns brown, you can confirm that the hams are cooked.

Well! This is in brief on how to cook hams. Other ham cooking instructions include boiling, baking and grilling. For cooking county hams, ensure that you soak them in water for about 1-2 hours before cooking. This will remove excess salts and flavor from the hams. Also, overcooking of hams should be avoided as it turns the meat dry, hard and tough. Maintain the cooking temperature of hams to restore the tenderness and juiciness of the cooked hams.