Should You Always Score Ham Before Cooking It?

Easter ham recipes are a staple of the spring holiday. If you've ever prepared a hunk of ham before, you've probably spent some time scoring it, which entails making small cuts on the surface of the meat to develop a nicely browned, crusty exterior. Scoring is a common cooking technique used for baked hams, but it's not always necessary. In a chat with Tim Ziga, culinary expert at The Honey Baked Ham Company, the chef cautioned us against scoring certain types of ham. According to Ziga, "[Honey Baked Hams] are spiral-sliced and hand-glazed for optimal flavor and presentation." As a result, "Scoring is unnecessary and can actually cause the ham to dry out during reheating." 

On the other hand, scoring can be beneficial when working with a ham that hasn't been glazed and sliced. In addition to creating the classic holiday ham look, scoring the surface helps create a crispy outer texture and ensures that seasonings fully makes their way into the meat. It's a technique that makes the most sense for a bone-in ham.

If you have a ham that isn't pre-sliced and glazed, scoring is the way to go. However, the best cutting implement for the job isn't in your kitchen, but rather, in your toolbox. "The trick to scoring a piece of meat is to keep the cuts shallow and uniform," Honey Baked Ham's Chef Tim Ziga tells us. "That's tough to do with a knife." To pull this off more efficiently, the chef prefers using a box cutter, emphasizing, "Obviously, put a new razor blade in it before you attempt this!" As for the best scoring technique, Ziga recommends making diagonal cuts that penetrate about ¼ inch into the meat and are spaced approximately ¾ of an inch apart. 

Chef Ziga's tips will ensure optimal juiciness and texture, but if you don't opt for a pre-glazed ham, enhancing the meat's flavor profile will ultimately be up to you. In this case, there are lots of tasty ham recipes to try out, from a cinnamon-spiced slow cooker variety to baked ham with a hint of cayenne in the glaze. It also helps to know how much ham to make per person for an Easter feast. For a bone-in, spiral-sliced beauty, aim for approximately ¾ to 1 pound per guest. If you're serving a boneless ham, you'll need ⅓ to ½ pound of ham for every person in attendance.