Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the ham thoroughly with warm water.
Place the ham in a porcelain or aluminum kettle and cover it with cold water.
Cook
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and boil slowly for four hours.
Cool
Remove the kettle from the heat and let the ham cool in the cooking water.
Timing and kettle notes
For hams weighing less than 15 pounds, reduce the cooking time by 10 minutes for each pound, cooking a 10-pound ham for about three hours.
Avoid cooking ham in a tin kettle to prevent browning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- The main cut, which becomes tender and fully cooked as it simmers slowly in water.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a slow boil. A hard, rolling boil toughens the meat's proteins and can make the ham dry and stringy. A gentle simmer cooks it evenly and keeps it juicier.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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