How To Cook A Ham

Learning how to cook a ham is important if you want your Epicurean skills to be taken seriously. Although this feat is very easy to pull off, there are very few dishes that are as impressive as a properly cooked and decorated ham.

To learn how to cook a ham, you will need:

• A partially or fully cooked ham
• A meat thermometer
• A large roasting pan
• Spray oil
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 small can of pineapple rings
• 1 jar of maraschino cherries
• Container of whole cloves

1. Before you can learn how to cook a ham, you must first defrost it, as most hams are sold frozen. There are two ways to achieve this. The first way to defrost a ham is to leave it in the refrigerator. This way is the slowest since even a small ham takes about four to five hours per pound of meat. The second way to defrost a ham is in cold water. You can use your sink for this. Make sure the meat is sealed completely and put it in the sink with enough cold water to cover it. Drain and replace the cold water every 30 minutes. This method takes two to three hours per pound of meat.
2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and lightly oil the roasting pan. Place the thawed ham with the fat side facing up into the pan. Placing the meat with the fat side up is important in how to cook a ham because this helps the meat retain its' juice.
3. Learning how to cook a ham can be very impressive when you decorate it properly. Place the pineapple rings in a random pattern across the ham. Cutting the cherries in half, place a cherry, cut side down, in the middle of each pineapple ring, and then randomly across the surface of the meat. Using the stem of each clove to stab it into the ham, place them through the center of each cherry and then randomly about the ham. Mix the honey, orange juice, juice from the pineapple rings, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Pour this mixture over the ham and cover it with the roasting pan lid.
4. The length of time you cook the meat depends on the size of the ham and whether or not it is already partially cooked. A fully cooked ham will only need to be cooked until the internal temperature reaches 148 degrees. All other raw or partially cooked hams must reach an internal temperature of 155 to 160 degrees. For a ham with a bone inside, cook about twelve minutes per pound. For boneless hams, cook about twenty minutes per pound. 

When learning how to cook a ham, never thaw your ham on the counter. The outside of the meat will become too warm while the inside is still frozen. That would mean bacteria could grow on the warm part of the meat. Always wash your hands after handling raw pork, and disinfect surface areas where raw pork has come into contact.

References:

http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/special_rodgers_ham.shtml

http://www.recipeideas.org/ham-glaze-recipe.html