Opinions requested on ham: cooked vs uncooked country ham
Last year, we ordered a 3-ish pound piece of cooked country ham from Broadbent's in KY. While neither of us are big ham fans, the Broadbent's was delicious and we're considering another order now. So...is uncooked "better" than cooked? Your opinions matter as most of my life's hams have come in cans with that awful gelatin, or else thinly shaved from a deli counter, or, worse yet, prepackaged in 8-oz baggies.
PS We won't consider a whole ham--too much ham LOL
I guess I’d order cooked if I didn’t have time or didn’t feel comfortable cooking it for some reason. The directions seem pretty straightforward for smaller cuts of uncooked. You can always order a larger oackage, do a practice cook, and freeze the rest for guests.
One is not better than the other. Just depends on how much time you want to spend on it. If precooked they will have already desalinated the ham so one less step to go through. Just glaze if you want and heat in low oven until an internal temperature of about 145F. No matter the cooking/heating method you choose just don’t let the temperature get above 155 or the ham will become stringy.
I do not think one would be better either. I can tell you that I love to cook country ham. We just do not have many folks who like it is much as my wife and I and it takes us a very long time to eat a whole ham .
Thanks all! So, DavidNorcross how do store your ham after slicing some off, do you generally buy cooked or uncooked, for how long do your store it, and does storage differ for cooked vs. uncooked?
Jerod Broussard I'm puzzled by your describing uncooked as "raw". I mean, I do understand the "uncooked" is not cooked, but it is cured and edible and safe without cooking, like prosciutto. Please help this Yankee who didn't grow up with real hams. LOL
As long as the ham has lost at least 18% of its original weight and contains at least 4% salt it is shelf stable and can just be left out. What a lot of people don’t know is that these hams are sweated during the summer where they are left in Summer heat (about 80-90 degrees) to dehydrate even more and develop flavors. You might get some mold on the outside which can be scrubbed off, but the inside is a bacterial desert. State laws require any precooked hams sold to the public to meet these weight and salinity requirements.
All that goes out the window once cooked as they really need to be desalinated in a water bath before cooking or the end result is just too salty for most people. Refrigerate your ham after cooking. I still eat cooked ham a week or two later if any lasts that long on the fridge shelf. (It is usually eaten before then.)
I grew up in a house where country ham was just hung up in the kitchen and cut as needed. We usually cure a country ham or two each year, and I slice it up, bag it, and then store the slices in the freezer. It will basically last forever this way. While I might cut off a chunk for a country ham dinner I like slices the best.
BUT between T-Day, Christmas & New Years , we sometimes sneak one into the mix
Any whole ham gets the same treatment.....I boil it in the cheapest ginger ale I can find...same set up as frying a turkey...and it is a crowd pleaser
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