Why You Should Never Buy Spiral-Cut Ham

I worked as a freelance recipe developer for several years, and over that time I cooked a lot of spiral-cut hams. Whether I was creating a Christmas centerpiece or a traditional Easter showstopper, I was always directed to use a presliced option to satisfy folks who prefer the convenience. What I learned through all of those experiences: I hate spiral-cut ham. Let me explain why.

I have to back up almost thirty years to when I first started dating my now husband. His family is a ham family. No gathering is complete without the speckled enamel roaster containing a whole baked ham — one that’s not presliced. I now understand why. City ham is relatively inexpensive (especially when it’s not spiral-cut), and it’s a crowd-pleaser. 

Since my own kids and husband don’t like turkey, we have also become a ham family, serving up porcine goodness at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and beyond. The slices might be hilariously thick or thin depending on the skill of the carver, but they’re reliably, consistently, perfectly juicy. 

The issue with presliced ham

I wasn’t familiar with presliced ham until I started developing recipes with it. When I did, I was shocked at the difference between this style and all the family hams I had enjoyed over the years. My beef with presliced ham? The slices are often dry.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s food safety guidelines say to heat fully cooked ham to an internal temperature of 140°F, which tends to take a few hours of oven time. When you’re working with a presliced ham, each cut is an escape hatch through which precious, delicious juices flee as the ham cooks. You wouldn’t Hasselback a steak before cooking it, would you? No, you’d work hard to preserve as much of the internal juices as possible, slicing only after cooking and resting the meat. 

When you cook a ham that hasn’t been presliced, more of the juices stay inside. In fact, I baked a whole ham at Thanksgiving, and my brother, who had been honored (or stuck?) with carving duties, remarked on how “literal juices dripped down” as he sliced the meat. Sure, you don’t get perfectly uniform slices, but you get the joy of tender, juicy, meaty bliss in every bite. And I’ll take that any day.

Where to buy unsliced ham

I’ve dug through the refrigerated meat coolers of many grocery stores and found that a lot of them only carry spiral-cut hams, not even offering an uncut option. You can find unsliced hams at butcher shops and (often pricey) online retailers, but here’s a secret: Walmart carries them, and they’re much cheaper than what you’ll get elsewhere.

I tend to go with a pointy-ish shank half, which is fattier and easier to carve than the more rounded butt half. When serving a large crowd, as I did at Thanksgiving, I go with a whole ham — which does look just like Scout Finch’s lifesaving costume in To Kill a Mockingbird.

My easy, go-to method for baked ham

I’m happy to share my very simple go-to technique for baked ham. Lay down a bed of sliced oranges in a roasting pan; you can line the pan with heavy-duty foil before adding the slices, if you’d like (I usually do). Place the ham on top of the slices; if there’s a fattier side, have it on top. Pour about two cups of ginger beer or ginger ale over the ham. Tent loosely with foil, and bake at 350°F until the internal temperature hits 140°F.

Our rule of thumb is to cook for about 12 minutes per pound (the behemoth whole ham I cooked at Thanksgiving took about four hours total). Let the ham rest for 20 to 30 minutes after baking, then slice and arrange on a platter. Spoon the scant juices released during cooking, which have married at this point with that ginger beer and the citrus flavor from the orange slices, over your juicy, pink, perfect slices. And pat yourself on the back for doing the cutting yourself.