To Boil a Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash the ham thoroughly with a cloth.
Place the ham in a large pot and cover it with cold water.
Boil and peel
Boil for 20 minutes for each pound of ham.
Remove the ham from the pot and peel off the rind while hot.
Brown and finish
Place the ham in the oven at 400°F (200°C) to brown for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and trim as needed.
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
- Is the main cooked protein, becoming tender and firm as it heats through in water.
- Cold water
- Covers the ham and carries heat evenly so it cooks gently and stays moist.
The step that matters
Boiling time for the ham. Boiling for the wrong length leaves the centre underdone or the meat dry and stringy. Time should be set by the ham's weight, so an accurate weight matters.
“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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