Who carves the ham in your family? Check out these tips for boneless, spiral-sliced, and bone-in ham, and you’ll look like a pro when it’s time to carve a ham!
How to Carve a Ham
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Carving a ham can be a very daunting task. It’s not like carving a turkey, where you can see the different parts that need to be cut apart. In a ham, there’s a bone in there… somewhere… and it can be a little hard to find. (Keep scrolling down for some delicious ham recipes!)
Tools to Carve a Ham
Before you start carving your ham, you will want to make sure that you have all the supplies you need. You will need:
- A chef’s knife or a carving knife (or an electric knife, if you prefer)
- A carving fork to catch the ham slices
- A large cutting board with a groove (I prefer plastic, or bamboo)
How to Carve a Boneless Ham
Boneless hams are the easiest to carve. There’s no bone, so there’s nothing to get in the way!
Boneless hams are sort of football-shaped. Place the ham on a cutting board with the flattest side down. Start from the small end of the ham and make slices as thin or as thick as you want. Some boneless hams are quite large around. If you don’t want to end up with dinner plate-size ham slices out of the center of the ham, you can cut it in half first. Cut the ham in half lengthwise. Then lay the flat side down on the cutting board. This also gives you a stable, flat surface to cut on.
How to Carve a Spiral Ham
Spiral-sliced hams are fairly easy to carve – they are already pre-sliced, which is great! But there is still a bone in there, and you need to know how to get around it.
Lay the ham down with the cut side facing out. You should be able to see the end of the bone. Cut horizontally, just above the bone, to release the ham slices. As you cut them free, they should easily fall over your knife.
Most spiral hams have a large chunk of ham at the end that has not been pre-sliced. When you get all the slices off, you can cut the rest of the ham in any thickness you want. Use the suggestions from the next section to help.
How to Carve a Bone-In Ham
Bone-in hams are my favorite. They do take a little more practice to carve, but you can cut the slices to any thickness or size.
Start by laying the ham down on a cutting board, with the bone horizontal (like the spiral-sliced ham in the above section). Then cut slices, starting at the thickest portion of the ham. Cut down into the ham until the knife reaches the bone.
Once you have some slices made, it becomes like carving a spiral ham. Cut the slices off by cutting just above the bone. If you have a large ham, you might want to take each slice off in 2 sections (like in the photo below).
If your ham is tender enough, the ham slices might easily pull away from the bone with just your fingers.
Once you have the sliced ham off the bone, you can cut the rest of the ham away from the bone. Use it in something like these Country Green Beans, or this Slow Cooker Ham & Cheese Soup. Check out one of the recipes in this list of 20 Leftover Ham Recipes. Or freeze the rest of the ham for later.
Who usually carves the ham at your house? Which type of ham is your favorite to cook?
Enjoy!
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