What's the difference between smoked, cured, and pre-cooked ham?

Question

My boyfriend says they are all safe to eat before baking, I say only the pre-cooked is. Please help end this silly discussion. Thanks!

Answer 1

Smoked, Cured, Grilled. What's the difference?
All hams start out as a roast from the hind leg of a hog. This is called a fresh ham. Before it is prepared it is no different than any other pork roast. How it gets to be a ham is something of a complicated story.
Hams are prepared in several different ways. They can be aged, cured, smoked or cooked. The ham you get at the store is generally wet or brined cured. This process involves injecting the ham with a combination of salt, sugar, sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate, sodium erythorbate, sodium phosphate, potassium chloride, water and flavorings. The ham is then cooked to a temperature of 150 degrees F. The combination of the chemical brine and the cooking will kill off bacteria and make a ham.

Now aging is a different process and does not necessarily require a brine of smoke. Hams are hung in a special room with exact temperature and humidity controls. Hams can spend as much as 5 years aging and will come out coated in a hard mold crust. Of course you scrap off and wash the ham before you eat it. It might not sound terribly appetizing but these hams can sell for a lot of money. Aging is done at about 75 degrees F to 95 degrees F at a humidity level of 55%-65% for at least 45 days. You need good air circulation to keep the surface of the meat dry to reduce mold growth


This gives a lot of info:
http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blham.htm

Answer 2

Cured Ham

Answer 3

If the packaging doesn't say fully cooked, I would assume it's not. Ham can be brine cured and not cooked, which preserves the meat. But, it doesn't necessarily kill the parasites that cause trichinosis. So, you should bake any ham that's not fully cooked to 140 F all the way through using a thermometer to make sure.

Answer 4

They are safe to eat,all of them.Smoked just means that there was maybe hicorey wood in the smokehouse.Cured ham is preserved with salt,and pre cooked ham was cooked.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What's the difference between smoked, cured, and pre-cooked ham?
My boyfriend says they are all safe to eat before baking, I say only the pre-cooked is. Please help end this silly discussion. Thanks!

Answer 6

This ham is already cooked does not have a smoke taste

Answer 7

Smoked is already pre-cooked by smoking, cured means either done in salt or sugar - is also pre-cooked & pre-cooked is pretty much self explanitory........Boyfriend is right - all three are ok to eat.......

Answer 8

Cooking Cured Ham

Answer 9

can one inject a "smoked" "precooked" ham