Cooking a ham from raw, advice please

griffo4, Nov 25, 1:43am
l have a ham in the freezer from our pig but it is so many years ago that l cooked one that l have forgotten and l can't find my old recipe so l thought l would ask on here as there are so many great cooks here and no doubt things have changed since l cooked one last century.
TIA

poppy62, Nov 25, 5:55am
Last year I cooked a raw ham in gingerale!It was absolutely lovely and very easy!Instead of using water, I used a bottle of gingerale.I glazed it after it was cooked.

griffo4, Nov 25, 7:00am
poppy did you boil it or bake it!

gardie, Nov 25, 5:45pm
I have to do this too this year (in fact, next weeked as we are having an early christmas dinner with visiting relatives). I think I'll pop it in the big oven dish with liquid - love the sound of gingerale - and cover tightly with foil and then cook for a few hours on low.Might do a bit of googling just to be sure!

gardie, Nov 25, 5:48pm
http://homecooking.about.com/od/pork/a/hamprep.htmMight have to invest in a meat thermometer though.

otterhound, Nov 25, 10:43pm
Take skin off the ham, place on a rack fatty side up, place in roasting dish containing 1 1/2 inches of water.Cover with tin foil, making it as airtight as possible and bake in moderately slow oven (160 degrees).Margaret Fulton's recipe allows 3 hours for a 7 kg ham.

griffo4, Nov 26, 5:05am
Thank you for that l will add the gingerale instead of water

horseyokel98, Nov 27, 5:13am
griffo4- I have cooked our raw homekill hams both ways, by boiling and then baking to finish off and glaze, and baking only.They are way better boiled!Moist and juicy and fall off the bone cooked this way, but can have a tendency to dry out if baked only.

griffo4, Nov 27, 5:31am
horseyokel l remember boiling but what do you add to the water!

nzhel, Nov 28, 4:31am
Very timely conversation! I was looking thru one of my very old recipe books that I had written in and have an old recipe for cooking ham. I remember doing it around 35 years ago once or twice and the ham was delicious. It was basted with pineapple juice and the flavour went right thru the meat.
The recipe said to soak the ham for several hours in cold water before cooking - I presume to get rid of any saltyness. I was wondering if this still needed to be done with todays raw hams - anyone know!

shop-a-holic, Nov 28, 5:30am
I thought a ham was brined before cooking. If you're cooking a raw ham (ie green and unbrined) it's no different from a roast leg of pork.
I always brine my legs to create a "ham"; it still requires cooking after brining.

peejay3, Nov 28, 8:39am
This the way my mother used to cook her ham, Soak raw ham overnight in water to remove excess salt, then wrap whole ham in several layers of lunchwrap [ not the waxed type], then wrap in several layers of newspaper. Soak in water until all layers are wet and place in a roasting dish with water and bake until cooked, making sure that the newspaper is kept wet by pouring water over it to keep it wet. Can be glazed later.

horseyokel98, Nov 29, 3:48am
The best homekill hams I have cooked i have soaked overnight in plain water, in the morning tip out the water and put in fresh plain water.Simmer for 2-3 hours depending on size of ham, then turn off and leave to cool in cooking water.When cool, remove skin and glaze with your desired glaze, then bake at 180 for about 2 hours or a bit less.Yum yum.

nzhel, Nov 29, 4:09am
So a purchased raw ham from say the supermarket - still needs to be soaked before cooking!

griffo4, Nov 29, 7:22am
Thank you for the ideas l have never soaked mine before but will this time l think l might try boiling and see how that goes, thanks everyone

horseyokel98, Nov 30, 1:16am
I have never seen a raw ham at the supermarket, they all seem to be precooked!The raw ham I am talking about is brined but not cooked at all, like a raw corned beef only pork.