Southern Recipes

Corned Ham Recipe

If you are unfamiliar with corned ham, you may be surprised to know that corn has nothing to do with it. Corning means curing with salt.

Here's a simple recipe for Corned Ham, a Southern holiday favorite. Please note that you must use a fresh ham, not a pre-cooked ham, which may be difficult to find. Most markets today sell ready to eat (pre-cooked) hams, so you might have to shop around.

Ingredients

* 1 (16- to 20-pound) fresh ham (not pre-cooked)
Of course you can use a smaller ham. You simply will not need as much salt and cooking time will be shorter
* 2 pounds kosher salt

Directions

1. Rinse and dry the ham.
2. There are three places where the bones protrude: at each end and on one side near the hip end. Use a sharp knife to make incisions of about 3 inches deep along all three. Fill these incisions with salt. Then rub the outside of the ham all over with more salt. Just cover the ham lightly, you don't want a paste of salt.
3. Place the ham in a nonreactive pan (not aluminum), cover with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and refrigerate. Let it cure for 11 days, turning the ham from time to time, rubbing it with salt again and pouring off any juice that the ham has produced.
4. The day before you plan to cook the ham, wash it under cold running water. Be sure to flush out the salt pockets. Then submerge under clean cold water overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put the ham on a rack in a covered roasting pan and bake for 20 minutes a pound. The internal temperature should reach 150 degrees for safety reasons. The meat should be ready to fall off the bone.
6. About 30 minutes before the ham is done, uncover and increase the temperature to 375 degrees so the ham will brown.
Store in the refrigerator