Whether it's for Easter dinner or just a big family gathering, nothing is easier to make or pleases a crow quite like a baked ham. Since hams are sold fully cooked, the heavy lifting has already been done for you. All you need to do is warm it up, slice, and serve. In fact, the most complicated part may actually be the shopping. Read on for a quick course on how to choose a ham.
A city ham is brined, smoked, and cooked —
What is a ham? At its most basic, it's a hind leg of pork, but that definition doesn't tell you whether the meat has been salt-cured, brine-cured, smoked, air-dried, aged, cooked, or some combination of all of those. Ham can be prepared in numerous ways, but for the traditional Easter ham, you'll want one that's been cured with a brine, then smoked and fully cooked. These are called city hams, as opposed to uncooked country hams, which are cured by rubbing the meat directly with salt and sugar. Pretty much all the cooked hams you see in the supermarket are going to be city hams.
Making sense of ham grades: it's all about the water —
Most producers today brine their hams by injecting them with a curing solution of water, salt, sugar, and usually phosphates and nitrites as well. The amount of water in the ham determines its grade, which you'll find on the label.
Ham. This highest grade of ham has a clean, delicate pork flavor and a fine, lean texture that resembles that of a chop. It's considerably more expensive than other grades, though, and your local supermarket may not carry it. Ordering by mail (see sources, below) will, of course, only add to the cost of the ham.
Ham in natural juices. This grade is somewhat confusingly named since the "natural juices" are actually added water (many hams of this grade weigh up to 10% more than their raw weight due to the extra water). These hams have a fine, meaty quality when baked, and the added water does help ensure that they stay juicy. This grade is a good value and is readily available at most supermarkets.
Ham, water added. The percentage of added water in this grade will be stated on the label (usually in fine print). A ham that says "water added--15%" means it weighs 15% more than its raw weight.
Ham and water product. Most producers of this lowest grade pump as much water as they can into the ham, which adds weight and allows them to sell it at a lower price. If the amount of water exceeds 50%, the ham must be labeled "water and ham product," since there is more water by weight than meat.
A ham from any of these four grades will work fine for my Oven-Glazed Ham recipe, but for the best flavor and texture, I recommend buying "ham" or "ham in natural juices."
Avoid spiral-cut hams —
"Spiral-cut" hams are partially boned hams that have been sliced before packaging. I don't recommend them because they tend to dry out when baked, and they often come already coated with a commercial-tasting glaze.
Bone-in ham delivers more flavor —
I prefer bone-in hams over boneless. I find that any meat cooked on the bone has better flavor, and in the case of ham, it also has better texture. When producers remove the bone from a ham, they have to then reshape the meat (in a machine called a vacuum tumbler) so it won't fall apart when sliced. This can give boneless ham a bit of a spongy texture. And there's one more reason I like bone-in hams: the leftover bone is great for flavoring soups, beans and other dishes. If you can only find boneless ham, try to pick one that has the natural shape of the leg, which indicates that it was minimally tumbled.
