Baked Country Ham Recipes

COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• Unwrap ham and scrub off any surface mold (if you hung in a sack for 6 months you'd have mold too). Carefully remove hock with hand saw. (If this idea makes you eye your first aid kit, ask your butcher to do it. But make sure you keep the hock, it's the best friend collard greens ever had.)
• Place ham in cooler and cover with clean water. (As long as it's not too dirty you can use what southerners call the "hose pipe"). Stash the cooler in the bushes. If it's summer, throw in some ice. If it's freezing out, keep the cooler inside. Change the water twice a day for two days turning the ham each time.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place ham in a large disposable turkey-roasting pan and add enough Dr. Pepper to come about halfway up the side of the ham. Add pickle juice if you've got it and tent completely with heavy-duty foil. Cook for 1/2 hour then reduce heat to 325 degrees F, and cook another 1 1/2 hours.
• Turn the ham over, insert an oven safe thermometer (probe-style is best) and cook another 1 1/2 hours, or until the deepest part of the ham hits 140 degrees F (approximately 15 to 20 minutes per pound total).
• Let rest 1/2 hour then slice paper-thin. Serve with biscuits or soft yeast rolls.
• Cooks note: Even after soaking, country ham is quite salty, so thin slicing is mandatory. If you're a bacon fan, however, cut a thicker (1/4-inch) slice and fry it up for breakfast.

BAKED COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• Place ham in a large container; cover with cold water. Soak for 16 hours in the refrigerator; change water once. Pour off water. Scrub ham in warm water with a stiff brush; rinse well. Cut skin from ham; trim off fat. Insert cloves in ham.
• Preheat oven to 325 degree F. Place ham, fat-trimmed side up, in a large roasting pan. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest portion of the ham, making sure it doesnt touch fat or bone. Pour apple cider or apple juice over ham.
• Bake ham, covered, in the preheated oven for 4 to 4-1/2 hours or until the meat thermometer registers 160 degree F. Drain off the pan juices.
• For glaze, combine brown sugar and ground cloves. Add just enough sherry or wine vinegar to make a paste. Spread glaze over fat side of ham.
• Bake ham, uncovered, about 30 minutes more or until the meat thermometer registers 170 degree F. Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. Transfer to a large platter and, if desired, garnish with pears and lemon leaves. Makes 25 to 30 servings.

CONTEST-WINNING HOLIDAY GLAZED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. Place ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Score the surface of ham, making diamond shapes 1/2 in. deep; insert a clove in each diamond. Bake, uncovered, 1-1/2 hours., Drain pineapple, reserving juice. In a small saucepan, combine pineapple juice, preserves, mustard and allspice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. , Spoon half of the glaze over ham. Secure pineapple slices and cherries on top and sides of ham with toothpicks., Bake 30-45 minutes or until a thermometer reads 140°, basting twice with remaining glaze.

COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.
• Set ham into the prepared roasting pan and pierce several times with a fork.
• Stir brown sugar, peach preserves, and mustard together in a bowl; spread over the ham. Cover the ham with a sheet of aluminum foil.
• Roast ham in preheated oven, basting regularly, for 90 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil cover and continue baking until hot in the center, 30 to 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 140 degrees F (60 degrees C).

BAKED COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• The afternoon before you plan to serve the ham, fill a very large kettle or pot or your sink with water. Soak ham 4 to 8 hours to lose some of the saltiness; change the water 2 or 3 times, if possible. Rinse well, and scrape off any mold or green rind.
• Wrap ham well in aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet. At 7 p.m. the night before you plan to serve the ham, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the wrapped ham in a large roasting pan filled with 1 inch of water, and bake for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven, but do not open the door. At 10 P.M., turn the oven back on to 500 degrees. Bake the ham for 15 minutes more. Turn off the oven, but do not open the door. Leave the ham in the closed oven overnight.
• Remove ham from the oven, then remove the aluminum foil. Using a very sharp knife, trim the rind and all the fat from the ham. Serve the ham warm or at room temperature; cut with a ham-slicing knife into very thin slivers.

CIDER-BAKED COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• Place ham in a Dutch oven or large kettle. Add cider, peppercorns and bay leaf. Add enough water just to cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour., Drain, reserving 3 cups cooking liquid; discard peppercorns and bay leaf. Remove skin from ham if desired; score the surface with shallow cuts, making diamond shapes. Insert whole cloves in the center of each diamond. Combine applesauce, horseradish and mustard; rub over ham., Place ham on a rack in shallow roasting pan; pour reserved liquid into pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1 hour or until a thermometer reads 140°. Remove from the oven; cover with foil and let stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

BAKED COUNTRY HAM WITH HONEY MUSTARD AND LINGONBERRY JAM

Steps:

• Place ham in a large pot or cooler and add enough cool water to cover. Leave in refrigerator or another equally cool place 3 days, changing water every 12 hours.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees with rack in lower third. Drain ham and scrub clean; wrap in parchment-lined foil and transfer to a wire rack set in a roasting pan. Add 1/2 inch hot water to pan and bake ham 30 minutes. Turn off oven; keep ham in closed oven 3 hours. Turn oven back on at 500 degrees and bake 20 minutes. Turn off oven; let ham sit in closed oven at least 6 hours and up to 10 hours; do not open oven, even once. Then remove ham from oven and discard any water remaining in pan.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim rind and all but 1/4 inch fat from ham with a sharp knife. Score fat in a 1/4-inch-wide diamond pattern. Return ham to rack in roasting pan, fat side up, and sprinkle top of ham evenly with 1/2 cup brown sugar. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes. Stir together remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar and Cognac in a small bowl. Brush ham with some glaze and bake, glazing every 15 minutes, until golden brown and a thermometer inserted into thickest part of flesh reaches 140 degrees, about 1 hour. Let ham rest at least 15 minutes. Transfer to a carving board or platter and garnish with rosemary.
• Stir together mustard and honey in a small bowl. Serve ham, very thinly sliced, with biscuits, honey mustard, and jam.

BAKED COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Place ham in a heavy roasting pan.
• To make the glaze, mince garlic in a food processor.
• Add remaining ingredients; process until smooth.
• Pour glaze over ham and bake 1 hour, until ham is fully heated and glaze is well browned.
• Serve hot or at room temperature.

BAKED COUNTRY HAM

Steps:

• Do not soak ham! First remove the hock, then skin and trim the ham to fit a large roasting pan. Scrub the exterior, leaving as much fat beneath the skin as possible. This helps remove the salt from an overly salty ham and imparts special flavor to the cured meat.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees
• To bake ham in a crust, assemble dry ingredients and enough of the 2 cups of water to make a soft, spreadable dough - like a soft biscuit. Place the ham in roaster on a rack, skin side up. Spread the dough over the skin side of the ham. Bake for about 3 hours uncovered.
• When the time is up, remove the crust and discard. After ham cools, remove it to a cutting board for deboning. Many like their ham served cold, but I enjoy a warm ham with any meal.

BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Ham labeled "Cook Before Eating"
• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place the ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. For a whole 10- to 15-pound ham, allow 18 to 20 minutes per pound; for a half--5 to 7 pounds--about 20 minutes per pound; or for a shank or butt portion weighing 3 to 4 pounds, about 35 minutes to the pound. In all cases, cook uncovered until the internal temperature reaches 160°F. For an attractive, quick finish, remove the ham from the oven about 30 minutes before it is done and glaze as directed below.
• II. Ham labeled "Fully Cooked" or "Ready to Eat"
• Preheat the oven to 325°F. To heat the ham, place it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, and bake uncovered. For a whole ham, allow 15 to 18 minutes to the pound; for a half, 18 to 24 minutes per pound. The ham will be ready when the internal temperature reaches 140°F. To glaze the ham, remove it from the oven about 30 minutes before it is done, and increase the oven heat to 425°F. Remove all the rind but a collar around the shank bone. Slash the fat in the top of the ham in a diamond pattern, and cover the surface with brown sugar, dry mustard moistened with cider vinegar, prune juice, wine or ham drippings.
• Stud the fat at the intersections of the diamonds with whole cloves. Or decorate with alternating half pineapple rings studded with cranberries and stars cut from preserved orange peel.
• Return the ham to the oven, reduce the oven heat to 325°F again, and cook about 30 minutes. Place on a platter. Garnish with: Slices of jellied cranberry sauce topped with thin orange or pineapple slices.

CRAZY GOOD SOUTHERN BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place ham fat side-up on a rack in a roasting pan. Score ham fat in a crisscross design; season with sea salt.
• Mix brown sugar, sorghum syrup, brown mustard, brandy, dry mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger together in a bowl for the basting mixture. Brush 1/3 basting mixture on top of ham and stick cloves into fat. Pour coffee into bottom of roasting pan.
• Cook ham in the preheated oven, brushing with remaining basting mixture every 30 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center reads 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), about 2 hours total.