One of the highlights of the Easter holiday is sitting down to enjoy a meal with family, often one that features ham as the star of the show. While pre-cooked ham is easy enough to order from a specialty producer or a local butcher, you’ll garner lots of compliments if you present your own whole ham roast freshly roasted from the oven, particularly if it’s scored and studded with cloves, as is the case with our Ham with Lemon-Honey Glaze.
The only drawback? Made-from-scratch ham doesn’t come with neatly cut spiral slices, so you’ll have to carve the ham yourself. It can be a bit tricky—especially when the leg bone is involved—but follow these four easy steps, and you’ll have beautiful ham slices every time.
Step 1: Create a flat base.
Turn the ham on its side and trim a small piece—about half an inch—from the bottom to create a flat base. This will ensure a steady surface for slicing.
Step 2: Make vertical slices.
Using a carving knife and a carving fork, carefully make evenly-sized vertical cuts against the bone. If your ham is wide on one side and narrow on the other, you’ll want to begin on the narrow side and make your way toward the larger end.
Step 3: Slice across the ham to cut off the slices.
Run your knife along the bone, perpendicular to your slices. (To preserve the size of each slice, cut as closely to the bone as possible.)
Step 4: Release each slice.
If necessary, use your fingers to separate slices from one another. They’re ready to serve! Ham slices will keep for up to four days.
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[…] As an example, if you searched on Pinterest, which is a go-to place for cooking and recipes, for “how to carve a ham,” one of the responses you would likely get is a link to a Williams-Sonoma blog post. […]
[…] As an example, if you searched on Pinterest, which is a go-to place for cooking and recipes, for “how to carve a ham,” one of the responses you would likely get is a link to a Williams-Sonoma blog post. […]