Have you ever felt panicky while preparing a ham for holiday dinner? It’s in the oven and people are due soon. Is it cooked yet? Will it be ruined?
Panic tends to arise because we treat ham as something mysterious instead of something scientific. When you learn the thermal rules, however, the panic go away. Suddenly, uncertainty becomes a dependable routine of precise timing paired with accurate temperature goals, as shown in the infographic above. Now you can cook with confidence (no more hovering by the oven).
How to Cook Ham Perfectly
Before you even think about turning on the oven, you need to know whether your ham is fresh or not. If you’re like most folks, you bought a city ham, a ham that was fully cooked in the process of making it. All you have to do is heat it up. Get those precooked hams as close to 140 degrees Fahrenheit internally as possible. Anything above that and you’ll end up with dry meat.
On the other hand, if you purchased a fresh (uncured) ham, you’ve got some raw pork on your hands that needs to reach at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit for food safety. The two is easily confused, and this is the quickest route to either a health risk or a tough roast. It may seem like a minor detail, but oh my goodness does it matter.
It’s also a matter of timing, which isn’t up for debate either. Depending upon the size (bone in vs. Out) and cut, the chart lay out exactly how long it should take to roast each one. It takes 18 minutes a pound for a bone-in city ham. Why? Because the bone transfers the heat to the interior of the ham and it roasts through.
Boneless rolled hams takes a bit longer: around 20 minutes a pound because they lack an internal conductor like a bone. And spiral-cut are done even quicker, only fourteen minutes per pound. They have more surface area so gets cooked through in less time. You don’t want to over-cook or under-cook the ham. Knowing the differences will help you avoid both scenarios. It’s basic math, once you get the formula.
Home cooks tend to fall down when glazing. At about 350 degrees Fahrenheit, sugar starts to burn. Put that sugary glaze on too early and you’ll have something bitter different than sweet by the time the interior heats up. As the guide explains, the trick is to wait.
For most of the cooking, leave the ham wrapped tightly in foil, which seals in steam. Then, only during the last 20 minutes or so, remove the foil, apply the glaze and raise the oven’s heat just a little bit. You get gloss without bitterness.
The last thing that makes the difference between good ham and great ham is resting the meat. Hot juice is what’s inside your ham when it comes out of the oven. Carve right away and what happens? Those juices runs out and all you’re left with are dry slices of ham. Resting the ham under a loose foil tent for another fifteen-twenty minutes lets the muscles relax. This also causes the internal temperature to increase a couple more degrees and let you achieve that sweet spot at exactly 140-degrees before overroasting.
You should of used a thermometer earlier too. But really: Roasting a ham isn’t so much a matter of following directions as it is a matter of figuring out when and how hot to roast it. That’s why understanding the distinction between cooked and uncooked meat makes everything easier; that’s why taking into account weight and bone structure matters; that’s why guarding your glaze until the very last moment matters.
When the time comes, you’re not guessing with the thermometer in your hand. And you won’t ever again; because you know exactly what’s going on inside the meat. It’s all just a question of having that confidence, and that is the true holiday secret to cooking without getting stressed out.