How to Cook a Kretschmar Fully Cooked Boneless Ham
Kretschmar brand meats, which originated in Europe in 1883, include fully cooked, boneless whole hams that you may serve for a holiday feast or a casual meal.
Kretschmar brand meats, which originated in Europe in 1883, include fully cooked, boneless whole hams that you may serve for a holiday feast or a casual meal. They are available in a variety of smoked and cured versions, such as Black Forest ham, Virginia brand smoked and honey hams, Bavarian ham, applewood smoked ham, tavern ham and even low-sodium varieties. Serve a fully cooked ham at room temperature, or bake it with a glaze if you prefer to eat the ham hot.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the Kretschmar ham in a roasting pan with the cut side facing down, if cooking a half ham.
Pour a glaze over the ham or top it with your choice of spices. For example, simmer brown sugar with pineapple juice and crushed pineapple. Fasten pineapple slices to the ham with toothpicks, then pour the pineapple-brown sugar glaze over top. Or pack a mixture of dry brown sugar and salt over all sides of the ham and push the stem ends of whole cloves into the meat in a diamond pattern.
Place a lid over the pan or cover the ham with aluminum foil, but do not wrap the foil tightly around the meat. Push a few toothpicks into the ham, if needed, to keep the spices or glaze from sticking to the foil.
Bake the ham for about 15 minutes per pound, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 F. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the ham to check the temperature. Check the ham periodically while cooking and spoon some of the glaze from the bottom of the pan over the ham.
Remove the ham to a serving plate and serve immediately. Unlike fresh, uncooked hams, fully cooked hams do not require a resting period before serving.
Tip
If you choose not to cook the ham with a glaze, add water to the bottom of the pan to keep it from drying out.
Add a glaze toward the end of the cooking process, when the temperature reaches 135 F, instead of at the beginning for a simpler preparation. Simply remove the pan from the oven, pour the glaze on top and return it to the oven to finish heating to 140 F.