Do you have a Grandma (or any other member of the family) that can accomplish magic with a ham? Most of us can recall a Christmas dinner at Granny’s home where the bouquet of cooking ham extended all through the house
Well, you might not be in granny’s league when considering the cooking arts, but having a little help you can put together an extraordinary ham dinner for your close friends and loved ones.
All you need is to stick to the following ideas and youtoo can produce a masterpiece!
Here are the 5 crucial steps to preparing the perfect ham.
Cooking ham step #1: Pre shopping.
A bit of advanced research may pay off big for you, especially previous to an upcoming holiday. Grocery stores will often use ham as a loss leader to draw in customers. They understand that once you’re in the shop, you’ll buy additional products, making up for the profits they lost on the ham.
Cooking ham step #2: Selection.
Your options generally consist of a bone in, boneless or spiral cut ham. It’s important to test the ham for firmness. Be certain to press hard on a number of spots of the ham; mushy places indicate fat.
In addition you might want to consider a partial ham. These are known as either shank or butt portions. The butt portion produces more of the middle cut pieces; the shank cut is great if you plan on cooking a dish later that calls for a good flavorful hambone. Both the butt and the shank will taste approximately the same.
Cooking ham step #3: Cooking ham traditionally.
Preheat the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees F. Insert the ham inside a deep enough baking dish or roasting pan to prevent juices from overflowing while cooking. Brush on the glaze reserving some of the glaze for the regular basting which ought to be carried out about every 30 minutes until food is done. Then remove baking pan and permit the ham to cool down at room temperature. This tends to make the meat easier to cut for serving. Now it is time to position your masterpiece onto a serving platter and garnish with a couple of sprigs of parsley.
Cooking ham step #4: Placeinside a cooking bag.
You can cook a ham in any roasting pan that’s at least 2 to 2-1/2 inches deep. If your roasting pan doesn’t have a cover, aluminum foil can be used to tent the ham and maintain all its moist juices inside the ham. Many individuals have opted for cooking ham in a Reynolds cooking bag merely because there’s no sloppy cleanup and very little to do to the ham itself as soon as it enters the oven. In fact, the only real work is setting the timer and quickly examining the ham when the timer dings.
To cook with a bag, you should accurately know how much the ham weighs.
If utilizing the cook-in-bag technique you’ll find a booklet of directions in the box with a plan for how long to cook for each lb of meat. Be certain the bag is the right size for the ham. Remember to put three to 4 tablespoons of flour in the bottom of the bag. Place the ham in the bag and brush on the type of glaze you want. After that close up the bag making sure to cut the 3 slits on each side at the top to prevent the bag from bursting whenever the temperature from the range makes it expand.
Also be certain to place the range rack low enough in the oven so the bag wont touch the top or sides of the oven when cooking ham, because this would cause the bag to melt or even stick to the range.
Cooking ham step #5: Post cooking considerations.
When your ham has arrived at the proper internal temperature, you should remove it from the range and let it stand. Let it rest for a proper 15 minutes or so, and you’ll find that it’s easier to cut. Now all that’s left would be to carve your work of art, and present it to your hungry guests!
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