Traditional Slavic cuisine has always been characterized by cooking any meat in the form of large pieces. They were boiled and baked in pots, cast iron and over an open fire.
This method was considered simple and reasonable.
In the last century, open fire ovens have been replaced by ovens, where large pieces are evenly fried on all sides without compromising appearance or taste.
Ham (butt) is the fleshy hip or shoulder part of a pork carcass, which is most often heat treated by baking.
Ham meat is consumed hot, and also as cold appetizers (ham, prosciutto, boiled pork, jamon). For baking, you can choose meat fillet of the thigh part of the ham, or ham with fat on the bone. Some prefer lean flesh, while others cannot imagine a ham without a layer of fat. All types of pork ham have their own cooking methods.
Pork ham baked in the oven - general cooking principles
For processing by any method, the ham is taken from the uppermost thigh of the pig. The ham from the anterior shoulder region is fibrous and less fatty, it is suitable for frying, making rolls and dietary recipes. The back meat or bacon part of the pig has more juicy and fatty meat with layers of lard of varying thickness. For this meat, the most successful cooking option is baking.
Baking is usually preceded by preparing the ham for heat treatment.
The meat must be rinsed under running cold water, thus washing away possible small fragments of bones, bristly hairs and remaining dried blood.
Most often, before baking, the ham is kept in brine or marinade; this procedure significantly reduces the time it takes to cook in the oven.
Recipe 1. Pork ham baked in the oven in foil (with oranges)
1-2 kg. fatty ham;
Spices to taste;
Salad greens (for decoration).
Scratch the skin of the ham with a knife to clean and open the pores. Make cross-shaped cuts along the entire perimeter of the ham. Season with salt and pepper.
Cut the oranges with the peel into circles.
Line a baking sheet with foil so that the edges hang over the sheet.
Place citrus slices on foil and place meat on them. It, in turn, is covered with a layer of oranges and covered with foil not very tightly.
The ham is baked in an oven heated to 180 degrees for 80 minutes.
The finished meat is removed from the foil and cut into portions; they are laid out on a dish covered with lettuce leaves. Oranges are placed on top.
The oranges in the recipe can be replaced with pineapples or papaya.
Recipe 2. Pork ham baked in the oven in foil (with apple sauce)
Spices, bay leaf;
Vegetable oil (any) - 40 ml.;
Apples (unsweetened variety) - 5 pcs.;
Dessert wine (red) - glass;
Spices and salt.
The meat is washed, dried and stuffed with garlic, bay leaf and carrots.
The stuffed meat should be salted, rubbed with red hot pepper and coated with olive or other oil. The piece, processed with spices, is covered with a lid and put in the refrigerator for a day.
After 24 hours, the meat is removed from the refrigerator, dipped in a paper towel to remove excess juice and wrapped in foil.
The pork ham is baked in the oven over medium heat (180-190 degrees) for about 2 hours.
Preparation of the sauce: peel the apples, cut into segments, add water and boil until soft. After boiling, the apples are pureed, diluted with wine and grated lemon zest.
The finished ham is cut into pieces, which are laid out in an oiled fireproof dish and poured with apple sauce. Before serving, the dish must be heated in the oven (without time to cool) for 5-7 minutes.
Recipe 3. Pork ham baked in the oven (in dough)
4 tbsp. spoons of sour cream and mayonnaise sauce;
1 teaspoon of aromatic herb seasoning.
Trim the skin and fat from the ham. Boil the meat with salt and spices in water for about 1.5 hours and place in a colander to drain the broth.
Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, chicken eggs, grated cheese and flour. Add dried herbs and knead the dough. Coat the slightly cooled boiled ham with this mixture and place it in a baking pan. You can add a spoonful of mustard to the dough to enhance the spicy aroma and taste.
This way, cooking a ham in the oven is much faster than in other options, since the meat is pre-boiled. It is baked until the dough crust is browned at 170-180 degrees.
Recipe 4. Pork ham baked in the oven in portions
Pork thigh (flesh with fat) - 2.5 kg;
Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons;
Flour or starch - 1 tbsp. spoon;
1 teaspoon paprika;
Honey mushrooms (canned) - 200 g;
The meat is cut into large pieces the size of half a palm and lightly fried. After browning, you need to transfer the pork pieces onto paper and dry.
Chop the onion and fry with paprika. Pour flour and salt into the pan and continue frying for another 1 minute. Next, pour in the broth and wine. Simmer the mixture over low heat until it begins to thicken. 2 minutes before turning off the stove, add cream to the sauce.
Place the browned pieces of ham in the pan along with the mushrooms. Pour the sauce over the meat and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Set the temperature to 160-170 degrees.
It is better to serve rice as a side dish for pork ham baked in portions with mushrooms; it compensates for the excess fat content of the meat.
Recipe 5. Pork ham baked in the oven (with kvass)
Allspice - 10 peas;
Carnation - 3-4 umbrellas;
Kvass is poured into a basin or bowl, spices, onions and salt are added. The meat is placed in liquid to marinate for 2 days. The dishes with the marinade are put in a cool place.
After 2 days, the ham is removed from the marinade, dried with napkins and stuffed with garlic.
The stuffed piece of pork is placed in a rimmed baking sheet and roasted in the oven for 80 minutes.
After this time, the liquid remaining from the marinating is poured into the pan, and the meat continues to bake for another 1 hour. From time to time, the pork should be basted with juice from the pan.
You can add peeled potato tubers to the baked ham. Then the side dish will be prepared at the same time as the meat.
Kvass in the recipe can be replaced with beer.
Recipe 6. Pork ham baked in the oven in a sleeve (with juniper berries)
1 kg. pork pulp (shoulder or thigh);
300 g prunes without bones;
100 l. dry wine (white);
50 g cow butter;
A handful of juniper berries;
A spoonful of ground crackers.
Crush juniper berries and bay leaves in a mortar. Rub the pork with spices, salt and crushed mixture. After half an hour, brush the meat with melted butter and pour over the wine.
Place a piece of ham in a baking bag and place in the oven for 2 hours. Oven temperature is 200-210 degrees. From time to time you need to turn the sleeve over to ensure even roasting of the meat.
While the meat is frying, prepare the sauce. The prunes are soaked in hot water and then passed through a meat grinder.
Rusks are fried in oil, prune mass and broth are added to them. Add some salt to the sauce and simmer for several minutes over medium heat.
Half an hour before the end of baking, the sleeve is cut, then in the remaining 30 minutes the juice will evaporate and the ham will brown.
The finished ham is cut into pieces and poured with sauce.
Recipe 7. Pork ham baked in the oven (with liquid smoke)
A piece of ham (without bone) - 1.5 kg;
Red hot pepper - 1/3 teaspoon;
2 cloves of garlic;
7 tbsp. spoons of liquid smoke;
First, the meat must be kept in brine for about 6 hours. The brine is prepared as follows: 1.5 tablespoons of salt and liquid smoke are dissolved in a liter of water.
After 6 hours of exposure, the meat can be baked; first, rub it with pepper-garlic gruel mixed with a small amount of oil. Baking temperature 150 degrees. And the required time is 3 hours.
Recipe 8. Pork ham baked in the oven (in soy-mustard marinade)
A piece of ham on the bone - cut about 10 cm wide;
Mustard paste - 1 tbsp. spoon;
Soy sauce (classic) - 1 tbsp. spoon;
Balsamic or wine vinegar - 15 ml;
Dried dill greens - 10 g.
Make cuts in the pork skin every 2 cm and sprinkle the meat with vinegar. Let the pork sit at room temperature for 2 hours.
Mix soy sauce with mustard, sugar and dill. Coat the ham, trying to get it inside the cuts. Keep the pork in this way for another hour.
The ham is baked first for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, then the heat is reduced to 180 degrees and the meat is cooked for another 40 minutes.
Recipe 9. Pork ham baked in the oven (economical method)
This recipe is called economical because it requires a minimum grocery set.
Meat from the hip part (with layers of fat) - 2 kg;
Coarse salt -1.5 kg.
The ham needs to be prepared for baking. To do this, prepare a saline (hypertonic) solution. The ratio of water and salt in the solution is 1 to 4. It is not advisable to add more salt to the water, because the meat will take the missing salt from the substrate. At your discretion, you can dilute ground pepper powder or other spices in the solution. Using a large medical syringe, saturate the piece as much as possible with this brine.
Salt is poured onto the bottom of the baking sheet, the ham is placed on it and put into the oven for 3 hours. The temperature is -160 degrees.
If the meat surface begins to burn, cover the ham with foil during baking. The foil is removed 20 minutes before the end of frying.
Ham cooked on a bed of salt has a juicy and natural taste. Many people, having tried this option, prefer it.
Recipe 10. Oven-baked pork butt (Welsh recipe)
Ham (shoulder part) - 1.2-1.5 kg;
Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp. spoons;
Greens and olives - for decoration.
Small potatoes are washed and scraped (you don’t have to peel the skin off young potatoes). The tubers are placed at the bottom of a cauldron or patch and watered with oil. A ham, previously rubbed with salt, is placed on top.
The roasting pan with the contents is placed in a hot oven (230-250 degrees) and kept in it until the meat is browned.
Peeled and sliced apples are fried until golden brown. Then the onions and flour are sautéed in this oil.
Place the pan with the broth on the stove, add the roast, apples and reduce the liquid by 1/3.
Pour the broth into the roasting pan, cover with a lid and continue cooking the ham and potatoes for another 25 minutes.
Sprinkle the finished dish with chopped herbs and garnish with olives.
Recipe 11. Pork ham baked in the oven in a sleeve (with lingonberry mixture)
Pork ham (boneless) - 1 kg;
Orange juice - 100 ml;
Lingonberries (200 g);
Lingonberries, honey and orange juice are whipped in a blender.
The skinned meat is cut into 4-5 pieces and salted.
Pieces of pork are placed in a sleeve, and the lingonberry mixture is poured into it. The baking bag is tied and shaken to distribute the liquid evenly.
The meat in the sleeve is roasted in the oven for 50 minutes. Temperature - 200 degrees.
Recipe 12. Pork ham baked in the oven (breaded)
Basil greens (bunch);
Pine nut kernels - a handful;
Spoon of butter;
50 g cheese (hard);
80 ml. vegetable oil;
Garlic - a few cloves;
It is better to take a white loaf that is not fresh. The crust is cut off, and the bread pulp is ground in a blender.
The crumbs are quickly fried in butter and cooled.
The next step is to grind nuts (part), cheese, garlic and herbs in a blender.
Spices, salt and oil are added to the mixture. Everything is thoroughly beaten, and then mixed with the fried crumbs.
A deep cut is made in the ham, the width along the entire piece. The recess is moved apart a little and part of the oil-nut liquid is poured into it, and the remaining nuts are poured in.
To close the hole, a piece of pork is wrapped with thread.
Before placing the ham in the oven, it is coated with the breading mixture.
Baking takes 2 hours and a temperature of 200 degrees.
To avoid burning, the pork is first covered with foil, and after 60 minutes it is removed so that a fragrant and crispy crust forms on the ham.
Pork ham baked in the oven - tricks and useful tips
- Dishes prepared from fresh meat have better taste and health benefits. However, it is not always possible to purchase fresh pork, so if you buy a frozen ham, the piece should be defrosted naturally, and not in water: it washes off the valuable juice, which contains protein.
- Cuts are made on the piece before baking to ensure that the finished meat is juicy and not tough. To soak the ham more thoroughly, you can pour the marinade into these cuts with a spoon or using a medical syringe.
- Tough meat from an older pig will become soft if, during the preliminary boiling of the ham, 1 tbsp is added to the broth. a spoonful of alcohol or ½ spoon of vinegar (9%).
- Milk can be a good alternative to brine, which gives a piece of meat a spicy taste and softness. The ham is kept in it for several hours before baking. Mustard, which is often found in recipes for cooking pork ham, has the same properties.
- Since ham itself is a fairly nutritious and high-calorie product, it is better to select vegetable side dishes as additives to it. This combination will be the most successful and healthy.
Traditional Slavic cuisine has always been characterized by cooking any meat in the form of large pieces. They were boiled and baked in pots, cast iron and over an open fire.
This method was considered simple and reasonable.
In the last century, open fire ovens have been replaced by ovens, where large pieces are evenly fried on all sides without compromising appearance or taste.
Ham (butt) is the fleshy hip or shoulder part of a pork carcass, which is most often heat treated by baking.
Ham meat is consumed hot, and also as cold appetizers (ham, prosciutto, boiled pork, jamon). For baking, you can choose meat fillet of the thigh part of the ham, or ham with fat on the bone. Some prefer lean flesh, while others cannot imagine a ham without a layer of fat. All types of pork ham have their own cooking methods.
Pork ham baked in the oven - general cooking principles
For processing by any method, the ham is taken from the uppermost thigh of the pig. The ham from the anterior shoulder region is fibrous and less fatty, it is suitable for frying, making rolls and dietary recipes. The back meat or bacon part of the pig has more juicy and fatty meat with layers of lard of varying thickness. For this meat, the most successful cooking option is baking.
Baking is usually preceded by preparing the ham for heat treatment.
The meat must be rinsed under running cold water, thus washing away possible small fragments of bones, bristly hairs and remaining dried blood.
Most often, before baking, the ham is kept in brine or marinade; this procedure significantly reduces the time it takes to cook in the oven.
Recipe 1. Pork ham baked in the oven in foil (with oranges)
Ingredients:
1-2 kg. fatty ham;
4 oranges;
Spices to taste;
Salad greens (for decoration).
Preparation:
Scratch the skin of the ham with a knife to clean and open the pores. Make cross-shaped cuts along the entire perimeter of the ham. Season with salt and pepper.
Cut the oranges with the peel into circles.
Line a baking sheet with foil so that the edges hang over the sheet.
Place citrus slices on foil and place meat on them. It, in turn, is covered with a layer of oranges and covered with foil not very tightly.
The ham is baked in an oven heated to 180 degrees for 80 minutes.
The finished meat is removed from the foil and cut into portions; they are laid out on a dish covered with lettuce leaves. Oranges are placed on top.
The oranges in the recipe can be replaced with pineapples or papaya.
Recipe 2. Pork ham baked in the oven in foil (with apple sauce)
Ingredients:
A piece of ham – 2 – 2.5 kg;
Carrots – 2 pcs.;
Head of garlic;
Spices, bay leaf;
Vegetable oil (any) – 40 ml;
Apples (unsweetened variety) – 5 pcs.;
Dessert wine (red) – glass;
Lemon zest;
Spices and salt.
Preparation:
The meat is washed, dried and stuffed with garlic, bay leaf and carrots.
The stuffed meat should be salted, rubbed with red hot pepper and coated with olive or other oil. The piece, processed with spices, is covered with a lid and put in the refrigerator for a day.
After 24 hours, the meat is removed from the refrigerator, dipped in a paper towel to remove excess juice and wrapped in foil.
The pork ham is baked in the oven over medium heat (180-190 degrees) for about 2 hours.
Preparation of the sauce: peel the apples, cut into segments, add water and boil until soft. After boiling, the apples are pureed, diluted with wine and grated lemon zest.
The finished ham is cut into pieces, which are laid out in an oiled fireproof dish and poured with apple sauce. Before serving, the dish must be heated in the oven (without time to cool) for 5-7 minutes.
Recipe 3. Pork ham baked in the oven (in dough)
Ingredients:
Ham – 1.5-2 kg;
100 g cheese;
4 tbsp. spoons of sour cream and mayonnaise sauce;
Salt, spices;
½ cup flour;
1 teaspoon of aromatic herb seasoning.
Preparation:
Trim the skin and fat from the ham. Boil the meat with salt and spices in water for about 1.5 hours and place in a colander to drain the broth.
Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, chicken eggs, grated cheese and flour. Add dried herbs and knead the dough. Coat the slightly cooled boiled ham with this mixture and place it in a baking pan. You can add a spoonful of mustard to the dough to enhance the spicy aroma and taste.
This way, cooking a ham in the oven is much faster than in other options, since the meat is pre-boiled. It is baked until the dough crust is browned at 170-180 degrees.
Recipe 4. Pork ham baked in the oven in portions
Ingredients:
Pork thigh (flesh with fat) - 2.5 kg;
Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. spoons;
Bulb;
Flour or starch - 1 tbsp. spoon;
1 glass of water;
1 teaspoon paprika;
Cream (10%) – ½ cup;
Honey mushrooms (canned) – 200 g;
A glass of broth;
Pepper, salt.
Preparation:
The meat is cut into large pieces the size of half a palm and lightly fried. After browning, you need to transfer the pork pieces onto paper and dry.
Chop the onion and fry with paprika. Pour flour and salt into the pan and continue frying for another 1 minute. Next, pour in the broth and wine. Simmer the mixture over low heat until it begins to thicken. 2 minutes before turning off the stove, add cream to the sauce.
Place the browned pieces of ham in the pan along with the mushrooms. Pour the sauce over the meat and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Set the temperature to 160-170 degrees.
It is better to serve rice as a side dish for pork ham baked in portions with mushrooms; it compensates for the excess fat content of the meat.
Recipe 5. Pork ham baked in the oven (with kvass)
Ingredients:
Pork meat (thigh) – 3 kg;
Onions – 10 pcs.;
Allspice - 10 peas;
Carnation - 3-4 umbrellas;
Garlic – 2 heads;
Kvass – 1 l.
Preparation:
Kvass is poured into a basin or bowl, spices, onions and salt are added. The meat is placed in liquid to marinate for 2 days. The dishes with the marinade are put in a cool place.
After 2 days, the ham is removed from the marinade, dried with napkins and stuffed with garlic.
The stuffed piece of pork is placed in a rimmed baking sheet and roasted in the oven for 80 minutes.
After this time, the liquid remaining from the marinating is poured into the pan, and the meat continues to bake for another 1 hour. From time to time, the pork should be basted with juice from the pan.
You can add peeled potato tubers to the baked ham. Then the side dish will be prepared at the same time as the meat.
Kvass in the recipe can be replaced with beer.
Recipe 6. Pork ham baked in the oven in a sleeve (with juniper berries)
Ingredients:
1 kg. pork pulp (shoulder or thigh);
300 g prunes without bones;
100 l. dry wine (white);
50 g cow butter;
A handful of juniper berries;
150 ml. broth;
A spoonful of ground crackers.
Spices, salt.
Preparation:
Crush juniper berries and bay leaves in a mortar. Rub the pork with spices, salt and crushed mixture. After half an hour, brush the meat with melted butter and pour over the wine.
Place a piece of ham in a baking bag and place in the oven for 2 hours. Oven temperature is 200-210 degrees. From time to time you need to turn the sleeve over to ensure even roasting of the meat.
While the meat is frying, prepare the sauce. The prunes are soaked in hot water and then passed through a meat grinder.
Rusks are fried in oil, prune mass and broth are added to them. Add some salt to the sauce and simmer for several minutes over medium heat.
Half an hour before the end of baking, the sleeve is cut, then in the remaining 30 minutes the juice will evaporate and the ham will brown.
The finished ham is cut into pieces and poured with sauce.
Recipe 7. Pork ham baked in the oven (with liquid smoke)
Ingredients:
A piece of ham (without bone) – 1.5 kg;
Red hot pepper – 1/3 teaspoon;
2 cloves of garlic;
Salt – 40 g;
7 tbsp. spoons of liquid smoke;
1 l. water.
Preparation:
First, the meat must be kept in brine for about 6 hours. The brine is prepared as follows: 1.5 tablespoons of salt and liquid smoke are dissolved in a liter of water.
After 6 hours of exposure, the meat can be baked; first, rub it with pepper-garlic gruel mixed with a small amount of oil. Baking temperature 150 degrees. And the required time is 3 hours.
Recipe 8. Pork ham baked in the oven (in soy-mustard marinade)
Ingredients:
A piece of ham on the bone - cut about 10 cm wide;
Mustard paste – 1 tbsp. spoon;
Soy sauce (classic) – 1 tbsp. spoon;
Granulated sugar – ½ teaspoon;
Balsamic or wine vinegar – 15 ml;
Dried dill greens – 10 g.
Preparation:
Make cuts in the pork skin every 2 cm and sprinkle the meat with vinegar. Let the pork sit at room temperature for 2 hours.
Mix soy sauce with mustard, sugar and dill. Coat the ham, trying to get it inside the cuts. Keep the pork in this way for another hour.
The ham is baked first for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, then the heat is reduced to 180 degrees and the meat is cooked for another 40 minutes.
Recipe 9. Pork ham baked in the oven (economical method)
This recipe is called economical because it requires a minimum grocery set.
Ingredients:
Meat from the hip (with layers of fat) – 2 kg;
Coarse salt -1.5 kg.
Preparation:
The ham needs to be prepared for baking. To do this, prepare a saline (hypertonic) solution. The ratio of water and salt in the solution is 1 to 4. It is not advisable to add more salt to the water, because the meat will take the missing salt from the substrate. At your discretion, you can dilute ground pepper powder or other spices in the solution. Using a large medical syringe, saturate the piece as much as possible with this brine.
Salt is poured onto the bottom of the baking sheet, the ham is placed on it and put into the oven for 3 hours. The temperature is -160 degrees.
If the meat surface begins to burn, cover the ham with foil during baking. The foil is removed 20 minutes before the end of frying.
Ham cooked on a bed of salt has a juicy and natural taste. Many people, having tried this option, prefer it.
Recipe 10. Oven-baked pork butt (Welsh recipe)
Ingredients:
Ham (shoulder part) – 1.2-1.5 kg;
Onion – 2 pcs.;
Potatoes (new) – 1 kg;
Vegetable oil – 4 tbsp. spoons;
Flour – 1 tbsp. spoons;
Apples (green) – 1 pc.;
Broth – 1 glass;
Greens and olives - for decoration.
Preparation:
Small potatoes are washed and scraped (you don’t have to peel the skin off young potatoes). The tubers are placed at the bottom of a cauldron or patch and watered with oil. A ham, previously rubbed with salt, is placed on top.
The roasting pan with the contents is placed in a hot oven (230-250 degrees) and kept in it until the meat is browned.
Peeled and sliced apples are fried until golden brown. Then the onions and flour are sautéed in this oil.
Place the pan with the broth on the stove, add the roast, apples and reduce the liquid by 1/3.
Pour the broth into the roasting pan, cover with a lid and continue cooking the ham and potatoes for another 25 minutes.
Sprinkle the finished dish with chopped herbs and garnish with olives.
Recipe 11. Pork ham baked in the oven in a sleeve (with lingonberry mixture)
Ingredients:
Pork ham (boneless) – 1 kg;
Orange juice – 100 ml;
Lingonberries (200 g);
Honey – 2 tbsp. spoons;
Preparation:
Lingonberries, honey and orange juice are whipped in a blender.
The skinned meat is cut into 4-5 pieces and salted.
Pieces of pork are placed in a sleeve, and the lingonberry mixture is poured into it. The baking bag is tied and shaken to distribute the liquid evenly.
The meat in the sleeve is roasted in the oven for 50 minutes. Temperature - 200 degrees.
Recipe 12. Pork ham baked in the oven (breaded)
Ingredients:
Pork ham – 1-2 kg;
Basil greens (bunch);
Pine nut kernels - a handful;
Bun (white);
Spoon of butter;
50 g cheese (hard);
80 ml. vegetable oil;
Garlic – a few cloves;
Spices, salt.
Preparation:
It is better to take a white loaf that is not fresh. The crust is cut off, and the bread pulp is ground in a blender.
The crumbs are quickly fried in butter and cooled.
The next step is to grind nuts (part), cheese, garlic and herbs in a blender.
Spices, salt and oil are added to the mixture. Everything is thoroughly beaten, and then mixed with the fried crumbs.
A deep cut is made in the ham, the width along the entire piece. The recess is moved apart a little and part of the oil-nut liquid is poured into it, and the remaining nuts are poured in.
To close the hole, a piece of pork is wrapped with thread.
Before placing the ham in the oven, it is coated with the breading mixture.
Baking takes 2 hours and a temperature of 200 degrees.
To avoid burning, the pork is first covered with foil, and after 60 minutes it is removed so that a fragrant and crispy crust forms on the ham.
Pork ham baked in the oven - tricks and useful tips
- Dishes prepared from fresh meat have better taste and health benefits. However, it is not always possible to purchase fresh pork, so if you buy a frozen ham, the piece should be defrosted naturally, and not in water: it washes off the valuable juice, which contains protein.
- Cuts are made on the piece before baking to ensure that the finished meat is juicy and not tough. To soak the ham more thoroughly, you can pour the marinade into these cuts with a spoon or using a medical syringe.
- Tough meat from an older pig will become soft if, during the preliminary boiling of the ham, 1 tbsp is added to the broth. a spoonful of alcohol or ½ spoon of vinegar (9%).
- Milk can be a good alternative to brine, which gives a piece of meat a spicy taste and softness. The ham is kept in it for several hours before baking. Mustard, which is often found in recipes for cooking pork ham, has the same properties.
- Since ham itself is a fairly nutritious and high-calorie product, it is better to select vegetable side dishes as additives to it. This combination will be the most successful and healthy.
Meat ham is one of the most juicy parts of the pork carcass, distinguished by its delicate taste. There are a variety of recipes by which it can be prepared, the most spectacular of which is baked ham.
How to cook baked ham: video recipe
Ingredients for cooking ham
Meat ham weighing 1.5–2 kg;
Head of garlic; - salt, black pepper, dried marjoram; - 2 tbsp. l. not too thick honey; - juice of half a lemon; - sleeve for baking.
The composition of spices can be varied by using those that go well with pork. It can be coriander, rosemary and more. Pork is good because it turns out aromatic even with a minimum of spices
How to cook a whole ham of meat
Homemade ham tastes best if you treat it with spices 10–12 hours before baking. To do this, you need to wash the meat, dry it with a napkin, and then brush it with a mixture of honey, lemon juice and spices. You can diversify the recipe and replace lemon juice with orange juice, as a result of which the meat will acquire a slightly different flavor. Then use a knife to make shallow pockets over the entire area of the ham, into which to place pieces of garlic. The denser the meat is stuffed, the more flavorful it will be. After this, the ham must be placed in a container, covered with plastic wrap or a linen towel to prevent the meat from chapping, and put in the refrigerator overnight.
Baking the product
When the meat is saturated with all the aromas of the spices, it must be placed in a baking sleeve, securing the ends so that a completely sealed bag is obtained. If you want to get baked meat with a crust, then you need to make several punctures in the upper part of the sleeve with a fork or knife; without them, the ham will turn out to be stewed. A prerequisite for this cooking method is that the sleeve with the ham must be placed in a cold oven and only then turn on the heat. If you place the sleeve on a hot baking sheet, it will melt and lose its seal, allowing the juices from the meat to leak out. The meat must be baked at a temperature of 180 degrees Celsius for 1.5–2 hours. If there is no sleeve, you can cook
Tender, juicy ham can become the main dish at any holiday. Its meat is not that difficult to prepare, but it can take several hours. Choose between raw or smoked ham, depending on the flavor you prefer, and allow an hour or an hour and a half to cook it. If desired, add a sweet or tangy layer of glaze to highlight the salty flavor of the meat.
Steps
Part 1
Preparing the Ham- Fresh or frozen raw ham. It has not yet been cooked or salted. It has the slight meaty flavor of fresh pork, much like a pork chop or roast pork.
- Salted ham. The ham can be preserved by salting it. Virginia ham, for example, is cured in a thick layer of coarse salt. Salt brings out the flavor of the meat.
- Salted and smoked ham. Smoking preserves the ham, giving it a smoky flavor and aroma.
-
Determine the quantity you need. Cooking time depends on the amount of meat. Since the ham cooks long enough for you to have extra, cook a little more meat than one serving. Here is an approximate calculation of the amount of meat, depending on its type:
- You need 115-150 grams of boneless ham per serving.
- For ham with small bones you need 150-220 grams per serving.
- For ham with large bones you need 340-450 grams per 1 serving.
-
Thaw frozen ham slowly. If you buy a frozen ham, it's important to defrost it properly so that it doesn't remain frozen inside when you start cooking it. If this happens, the ham will not reach the required internal temperature and will be dangerous to eat. Here's how to properly defrost a ham:
- Refrigerator Method: Place the ham in the refrigerator the day before you cook it. It will slowly thaw while remaining chilled. Give the ham at least 24 hours to thaw completely.
- Cold Water Method: If you're short on time, you can submerge the ham in a large bowl of cold water. Soak the ham for several hours to completely thaw it. The water must be kept cold at all times so that the outer parts do not heat up while the inside of the meat is cold.
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Consider soaking a salted ham. This ham is rubbed with salt for preservation. If you soak it, the salty crust will fall off and the meat will have a milder flavor. Let the ham soak for 4 to 8 hours, depending on how much salt you want to leave on it.
Let the ham sit at room temperature for a while before cooking. Remove the ham from the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking.
Part 2
Roasting a ham-
Preheat the oven to 160 o C. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. It doesn't matter whether your ham is raw or cooked, its internal temperature should be 70 o C. Roasting at 160 o C for several hours ensures that the outside of the ham does not dry out while it bakes.
- If the ham was vacuum-packed or canned, this means it is already ready. It can be eaten straight from the package or preheated at 60 o C.
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Place the ham on a large baking dish. Use a glass, ceramic or foil dish large enough to catch any dripping juices.
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Make slits in the ham if you plan to glaze it. Make cuts in the skin and fat, but not in the meat. Make cross cuts to create a pattern. The cuts will help the sauce penetrate as deeply as possible and transfer the taste and aroma of the meat to the very middle.
- If you have pre-sliced ham, skip this step.
- If you want, stuff the ham with whole cloves of garlic, just press the cloves into the intersection points of the cuts.
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Cook for the required amount of time. The ham will need to be baked so that the internal temperature reaches 74 o C. The baking time also depends on the quantity and type of meat. Check the temperature with a food thermometer to ensure you don't overcook the ham. Here is the approximate baking time:
- Fresh ham: 22 -28 minutes for every 450 grams of meat.
- Smoked ham: 15 - 20 minutes per 450 grams of meat.
- Processed (country) ham: 20 - 25 minutes for every 450 grams of meat.
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Prepare the glazing mixture. You can prepare the glaze while the ham is cooking. Choose any glaze recipe, sweet or spicy. Combine the ingredients in a saucepan, boil them slowly, and cook the mixture until the consistency is thick but viscous. To make a classic sweet honey icing mixture, use the following ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 250 grams brown sugar
- 125 ml honey
- 125 ml apple cider vinegar
- 125 grams butter
- 250 ml water
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Brush the ham with the glazing mixture when the internal temperature reaches 57°C. This should happen half an hour before the end of baking the ham. Check the thermometer and carefully remove the ham from the oven.
- Take a pastry brush and coat the ham with the mixture, trying to get as much of it into the cuts as possible.
- Place the ham back into the oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches 74°C.
- If you want, you can turn on the oven grill for an additional 10 minutes. This creates a crispy crust on the meat.
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Select the type of ham. You can buy fresh, raw ham, or salted or smoked ham. Some types of ham are packaged with juice, some are dry. Some types are on the bone, some without, you can also buy a partially sliced ham, it will be more convenient to serve. If you can't decide on a choice, here are the popular types of ham, each with its own taste:
We present to you three versatile recipes for preparing a meat delicacy from pork ham.
Pork ham cooked and smoked at home
If you or your friends have a smokehouse, then the question of what to cook with pork butt should no longer be on the agenda in the kitchen.
Ingredients:
- pork ham – 1 pc.;
- salt – 200 g;
- sugar – 20 g;
- allspice – 6 pcs.;
- cloves – 2 buds;
- bay leaf – 3 leaves;
- peppercorns – 5 pcs.;
- water – 2 l.
Preparation
Boil water and pour in all the ingredients, of course, except the meat itself. Mix well, there should be no salt residue left on the bottom, this can harm the meat. The composition and quantity of spices are indicated statistically, but you can add your favorite herbs or change the proportions of the above. Only the amount of salt and sugar per unit of water should remain unchanged. While the marinade brine is cooling, begin preparing the pork. Wash the ham well in warm water, if necessary, use a dishwashing sponge. Pour the cold brine over the ham so that the meat is completely covered; by the way, the dishes in which the ham will be salted should under no circumstances oxidize. So, the ham should spend 7 days in brine in the refrigerator. Then wash it and hang it to dry, this will take 7-8 hours. When the meat has dried well, it can be sent for hot smoking, which should last at least half an hour. Then place it in a baking sleeve, release the air well and tie tightly. Cook in this form for at least half an hour per kilogram of weight. Then hang it in a draft again to dry.
How to dry a pork ham at home?
We want to tell you right away that to prepare this pork ham dish, you need to be patient, patient, and more patient.
Ingredients:
- pork ham – 7 kg;
- salt – 8-12 kg;
- black pepper – 2 teaspoons;
- – 0.5 kg;
- ground coriander – 1 teaspoon.
Preparation
First, wash the ham well to remove soot stains after tarring; this is easier to do in warm water with the hard part of a dishwashing sponge. Then dry and thoroughly, in several passes, rub the skin, and especially the exposed part of the meat, with pepper and salt. Then find a non-oxidizing basin and add a layer of salt to the bottom. Place the ham on its side and cover it completely with salt, so that it covers the entire leg. The duration of this procedure directly depends on the weight of the ham, on average it is a day per kilogram. Cover the basin with cling film, and check the condition of the salt every 2 days (more often if possible). 
Pour out the separated liquid and add salt if it no longer covers the entire ham. Afterwards, wash the already salted leg and hang it out to dry. Rub with spices, paying special attention to the exposed meat, then cover the exposed meat with slices of lard. And then wrap the ham in five layers of gauze and tie it tightly with twine. Now all that remains is to hang the ham in a well-ventilated dark room with a temperature no higher than 8-10 degrees and a humidity of 60-70%, if the temperature rises over time by about 1 degree per week, this is ideal, but not higher than 15. And now how We have already said, be patient and wait at least five months.
Pork ham baked in foil in the oven or in a slow cooker
Ingredients:
- part of pork ham – 1.5 kg;
- garlic – 4 cloves;
- basil;
- oregano;
- pepper;
- paprika;
- vegetable oil – 20 g;
- salt.
Preparation
Let's say right away that there are two options - to cook the ham with the skin on, or without. If you like well-fried skin, then you need to be more scrupulous in your choice of meat. The skin should be young, thin, white and without bristles. When purchasing, do not hesitate to pick it up and take a good look at it. 
Wash the meat and dry it well, then, if desired, season the meat with garlic and greased oil. Now thoroughly rub the ham dry with salt and pepper. Mix the remaining salt and pepper with spices and oil, then coat the ham completely. Wrap well in two layers of foil, securing it so that the juice does not leak out during baking. After waiting a couple of hours for the meat to marinate, you can put it in the slow cooker for 1 hour in the “Baking” mode, not forgetting to turn it over in the middle of cooking. Or put it in the oven at 180 degrees for 1.5 hours, and 20 minutes before the finish, open the foil and add 20 degrees.
