Baked Country Ham Recipes

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.

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.

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:

• 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.