What Is Ham and How Can I Use It?

Ham hock is the joint that connects the pig's thigh to the shank. It is full of collagen, connective tissue, and flavor. Most ham hocks sold in stores are smoked.

Smoked ham is cured ham that has been hung in smoke, usually over hickory or applewood, after the salt cure. The smoke is what separates it from a plain wet-cured ham.

It darkens the color and firms the edges, and it adds a savory woodsy depth that carries through anything you cook it in.

Almost all smoked ham you buy is fully cooked, so it is ready to eat cold or warmed. The smoke flavor sits strongest near the surface, which is why diced smoked ham seasons a whole pot so efficiently.

For city versus country ham and how to warm and glaze a whole leg, see ham. This page is about where the smoke earns its place.

A ham bone is the leftover bone from a bone-in ham, the prize hiding inside the holiday roast.

After the meat is carved off, the bone still holds marrow and scraps of clinging ham, plus a layer of fat and gelatin that dissolves into the liquid and turns a plain pot of beans into something with backbone.

It is the original use-it-up ingredient. One bone seasons a whole pot of soup, which is why cooks freeze it after Easter or Christmas instead of tossing it.

The parent ham page covers buying a bone-in ham in the first place. This page is about what to do with the bone once the ham is gone.

Deviled ham is a canned spread of finely ground cooked ham seasoned with spices, most famously the Underwood brand sold in its white paper wrapper since the 1860s.

The word "deviled" just means spiced. The ham is ground to a paste and mixed with mustard and vinegar, then sharpened with pepper or cayenne for bite.

It is shelf-stable, spreadable straight from the can, and built for sandwiches and quick appetizers. Think of it as the pork cousin of canned tuna or chicken salad, already seasoned and ready to scoop.

Deli ham is cured, fully cooked ham sliced thin for sandwiches, the kind you buy at the deli counter or prepackaged by the pound. It is wet-cured city ham at its most convenient: mild, tender, ready to eat straight from the package with no cooking at all.

Most of it comes from the same cooked leg as a holiday ham, just pressed or molded and machine-sliced. Quality runs from premium carved ham down to pieced-and-formed "ham and water product," which is wetter and blander.

Country ham is the salt-cured, dry-aged ham of the American South, rubbed with salt and hung to cure for months until it turns firm and intensely salty. It is the opposite of a soft, wet pink deli ham, closer in spirit to prosciutto than to a holiday ham.

Kentucky and Virginia are its heartland, with Tennessee close behind, where hams age in smokehouses through the seasons. The long cure concentrates the flavor, so a little goes a long way.

A smoked ham shank is the lower portion of a cured, smoked ham leg, the tapered end nearest the foot. It is mostly bone and tougher meat wrapped in skin and fat, which makes it less a slicing ham than a deep flavor base for the soup pot.

That bone and gelatin are the point. Simmered low, a smoked ham shank gives up salt and smoke and a silky body that no quick seasoning can match.

A ham steak is a thick slice cut crosswise through a whole ham, usually about half an inch thick, often with a round leg bone in the middle. It is the same cured, mostly precooked pork as a holiday ham, just portioned for a skillet instead of the oven.

That precooked head start is the whole appeal. A ham steak goes from fridge to plate in well under ten minutes, which makes it a go-to for breakfast and fast weeknight dinners.

For the difference between city and country ham and how to handle a whole leg, see ham. This page is about the slice and the skillet.

Boiled ham is cured ham that has been cooked in water or steam rather than smoked, giving it a mild, clean, faintly sweet flavor and a soft, moist texture. It is the pale, gentle ham of the deli case, the classic sandwich ham before smoke enters the picture.

The name is a little loose: most "boiled" ham is actually simmered or steamed slowly, not boiled hard, which would toughen it. The result is tender and fully cooked, ready to eat cold.

Cured ham is pork leg preserved with salt, the curing being what turns plain fresh pork into ham at all. The salt firms the meat, deepens the color to pink-red, and gives that savory, slightly sweet flavor no raw pork has.

Most cured ham you meet is city ham: wet-cured in a salt-and-sugar brine, then fully cooked, so it is ready to warm and eat. Dry-cured hams like country ham and prosciutto are the salty, aged end of the same family.

A ham steak is a thick slice cut straight across a whole ham, sized for the skillet instead of the oven. It is cured, mostly precooked pork, so it only needs warming and browning, not cooking from raw.

This page is the singular of ham steaks, where the full how-to lives: searing, glazing, redeye gravy, and what to pair it with. The short version is to get a pan hot and give it three to four minutes a side until the edges crisp.

Ground ham is cooked ham put through a grinder or food processor into a fine, even mince. It is the form ham takes when you want it to bind into something like a loaf or patty, or to smooth into a spread or filling instead of a slice.

Most ground ham is homemade from leftovers. A holiday ham that has lost its looks still grinds beautifully, which is why it is a classic use-it-up move after a big roast.

Canned ham is cured, fully cooked ham sealed in a can, shelf-stable and ready to eat straight out of the tin.

The meat is pieced and pressed into shape, set in a little gelatin that forms during cooking, and processed so it keeps unopened for a year or more without refrigeration.

It is convenience ham: no bone or waste, and nothing to cook. Quality runs from solid single-muscle hams down to chopped-and-formed budget tins, so the label and brand matter.