How to Cook A Ham

There are some basics on how to cook a ham that you should keep in mind before you are going to prepare and bake a ham. The storage and handling of the ham is important to ensure that your ham recipes are prepared safely. 

Your frozen ham must be thawed and stored properly. Be sure to use the correct cooking times and temperatures when baking or roasting ham to achieve proper doneness. 

Thawing

Thawing your ham in the refrigerator is the slowest but safest method and will result in the least amount of moisture loss in comparison to the other methods. Leave the meat wrapped and placed on a platter or a tray to catch the drippings as it thaws or unwrap and loosely cover with plastic or foil.

Approximate Refrigerator Thawing Time: 

Small Ham- 4-5 hours per pound
Large Ham- 5-7 hours per pound

After thawing in the refrigerator the pork can be refrigerated safely for 3 to 5 days.

Baking

Do not add water to the roaster.

To avoid drying out ham, cook slowly at 325ºF. Allow 20 to 30 minutes per pound for your Jubilee ham. 

Begin roasting ham by placing fat side up, the melting fat will baste your ham. Turn ham over half way through baking to avoid uneven salting from the brine in the meat.

For a crisp surface on your ham roast, be sure the oven is preheated before placing the roast into the oven in an uncovered pan.

Do not use sharp utensils that may pierce the ham when trying to turn it. The piercing allows valuable juices to escape. Use other utensils, such as wooden spoons and spatulas for turning the meat.

Use proper cooking times and temperatures. Do not overcook pork or it will become dry and tough. The threat of trichinosis is eliminated when the pork is heated to 137°F but the USDA recommends cooking pork to 145°F to be safe. Cooking to 145°F will result in clear or slightly pink tinted juices from the juicy and tender meat.

After ham has completed roasting, take ham out of oven and let stand 15 minutes before slicing. Ham will continue to bake when out of the oven and letting ham stand for 15 minutes makes it easier to carve.

Maple Glazed Ham Recipe

Auntie Bethany's Curried Fruit Sauce- I've been adding a few scoops of this to our ham in the last 15 minutes of cooking time. When it's combined with the juices from the ham it makes for an incredibly flavourfull ham gravy.