How to Carve a Ham

Guide Note

Ham can be a great alternative to turkey during the holidays, and makes a great snack anytime of year. Now that you've mastered the art of cooking the ham, you have to divvy it up into manageable portions! This page provides the best strategies, tips, and advice on how to carve out artfully delectable cuts of ham.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What You'll Need
• How to Carve a Ham
• Resources

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Introduction

• Now that your glorious ham is roasted and ready to eat, you'll need to carve it. Carving a ham isn't a complicated endeavor when there's no bone involved. When there is a bone, things get a little trickier, but not by much. As long as you have a sharp, thin blade and a steady hand, you'll have that ham on everyone's plates in no time.

What You'll Need

• Regardless of what type of ham you're carving, it's helpful to have the following utensils on hand:

• Sharp Knife with a Long, Thin Blade
• Cutting Board (preferably with a trough to catch the juices)
• Carving Fork
• Platter

How to Carve a Ham

• Different cuts of ham are carved in slightly different ways.

(Creative Commons photo by Wendy Harman)

Whole Ham

1. Trim 3 to 4 slices off one of the ham's thin sides.
2. Turn the ham so it rests on the flat side you've just created.
3. Starting at the shank end, cut uniform slices of ham down to the bone.
4. Cut parallel along the bone to release the slices.

Spiral Sliced Ham

• A spiral sliced ham has been cut to provide slices of a uniform thickness. You only need three cuts to release the slices.

1. Face the cut side of the ham towards you.
2. Cut along one of the ham's visible muscle lines down to the bone.
3. Follow the muscle line until it turns upwards and back out of the ham.
4. Repeat along a second muscle line.
5. Your third cut will require that you cut along the bone to release the meat.

(Creative Commons photo by Lindsey T)

Shank Half

1. Trim 2 top 3 slices off one side of the ham.
2. Turn the ham so it rests on the flat side you've created.
3. Start slicing the ham from the narrow end, down to the bone.
4. Flip the ham back to its original position.
5. Trim the slices you've made from the ham by making a downward cut.
6. Repeat on the other side.

Butt Half

1. Lay the ham on its flat end.
2. Make one cut through the ham as close to the bone as possible.
3. Set this section of meat aside.
4. Cut slices in the remaining section of ham by cutting parallel to the cutting board.
5. Release the slices by making a single cut downward through the ham.
6. Slice the boneless section of the ham that you set aside by slicing downward, perpendicular to the board.

Resources for How to Carve a Ham

• • Mahalo's Guide to Ham
  • Mahalo's Guide to Cooking a Ham
• USDA: Ham and Food Safety
• What's Cooking America: Ham 101
• RealSimple.com: How to Carve a Ham
• RecipeTips.com: Carve a Ham
• MarthaStewart.com: Ham 101
• Food Network: Hams  
• YouTube: How to Cook a Ham with Chef Gordon Drysdale (Time: 2:01)

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