How Do You Cook A Whole Ham?

Cooked ham bought from grocers is leg of pork that has been cured using a brine or dry salt cure. It is then usually boned and cooked. The best hams are simmered in stock. Commercial production can include moulding different meat parts together, injecting with brine and other chemical to preserve and plump the meat and then steam cooking before slicing and packaging. Some hams are also smoked as part of the process. Domestic cooks usually favour part boiling the ham before baking in the oven. The length of time of cooking depends on the weight of the meat and whether or not the bone is left in or removed. Various recipes exist. Glazing the ham before baking with mustard and honey is common. A variation favoured by Nigella Lawson is simmering the ham in cola drink before baking. Treacle glazes and brown sugar are also used to glaze and some prefer to stud the ham with cloves before boiling.

          There are a number of tasty recipes for cooking a whole ham. The basic thing to decide is whether to cook it on top of the stove or in the oven (if your oven is big enough.) I like using the stove top myself.

          If you are boiling the ham, you can of course just cook it in water, it will still taste very nice (about 1 hour per kilo plus 15-20 min extra should do it) though you will probably want  to add some herbs and seasoning (not salt though - there will be lots of that in the ham, and in fact unless you like it very salty, it's advisable to soak the meat in cold water overnight before cooking, or pour over boiling water and then replace with cold.)

           Or you can cook it in the same way, but use wine or cider instead of water (or half and half.) Nigella Lawson even has a lovely recipe for ham in Coke in her book "Nigella Bites." Same principle really, just use coke. The main thing is to cook slowly, let it get really tender and add more liquid if it gets dry.

I cook mine in a roasting pan with dr pepper and pineapple. After I put the pineapple on I will put whole cloves in the center of the pineapple and then coat with a heavy layer of brown sugar. Roast for three to four hours. MMMMmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM