A fresh ham is an uncured and un smoked ham....essentially a pork roast.
The "ham" from the shoulder is called a picnic ham or if it's uncured, its a Boston butt or a pork butt roast.
All cooked very differently. What is it you have?

I described the ham we had in PA. to the person at the meat counter at Central Market. She said that would be a fresh ham that they only sell at holidays. She called me today that my ham is in. It's wrapped in white butcher paper. I haven't looked at it, but it sounds like it is a pork roast from everything I've read.

some markets also sell "uncooked" but cured hams....and unsmoked. that could also be what you have....essentially a "raw" cured piece of meat.
Depending on the cut...long and slow for a shoulder....or cooked for a shorter time if it's from the hind haunch. An instant read thermometer will be your best friend!

I'd have asked at Central Market how it should be prepared, at least for temp- you could play with any seasonings you might like.

We've been given a ham from Zenner's in Portland the last two holiday seasons. It wasn't over the top good the first year, I think I cooked it too hot, not long enough, assuming it was like any other ham. (In fact, it was so big, we cut it with a meat saw and shared it with two other households and probably none of us cooked it correctly).

Last year I called Zenners, and they said 185F, 20 minutes a pound....that alder smoked ham took a full 8 hours. I got up at 5:30 AM, and out came the Nesco ;) Delicious, it was wonderful cooked right. And then was divided where more than one household enjoyed it.

I agree, the way it's cooked depends on the cut you have. A shoulder cut? That would be low and slow in my house, probably just like LindaC does it.

Here a smoked shoulder roast is also called a "picnic" or "picnic ham". Unsmoked it's called a "butt", even though it's shoulder. Fresh ham would be the hind leg, unsmoked, usually cut in half and the top half is the "butt" and the bottom half is the "shank". Smoked ham is referred to as that, and also has a "shank" and a "butt" half. So shoulder is "butt" and the rear is "butt" too, go figure.

Annie

In England, for a cured ham, we'd boil it 20 minutes per pound. Then, you cut off the skin, leaving the fat. Score the fat into diamond shapes, and insert a clove inthe centre of each diamond. Then, make a glaze with something like pineapple juice, or orange juice with some brown sugar or honey and bake it, basting it every 5 or 10 minutes until it has a lovely, shiny glaze.

We can't find a picnic HAM where we live. I was really excited to see "Picnic Ham" in an ad one day so I go to the store to buy one only to find out that it was just raw pork and not cured or smoked. To me that's not a "HAM"...that's just a pork roast. I do not have a way to cure or smoke a raw pork picnic roast. Apparently, smoked/cured (but raw) picnic ham is not very popular in my neck of the woods which is NE Ohio. GAH! They don't know what's good up here! HA! My Mom always used a picnic ham and I miss them, they are delicious! She cooked hers in boiling water on the stove top.

Islay, the method you describe is the way to cook what we would call a"country ham"...which is not cured but dry smoked for a long time and hung to dry. Often sold at smoke houses in a canvas bag. They are very dry and very salty....and perfectly delicious.

Oh the country ham. I buy the biggest one I can get. Then soak. and cook slices. Freeze what I can. But around the boone get those scrapes. Chop in the ffod processer to make a ham spread with mircle whip mustard, picles, onion in it. Oh the best ham spread in the world.

In this area of east central PA, fresh ham is what Linda92 said in her first post. My step-father liked to cook one for Easter. He'd put thick slices of onion, halved celery stalks and lots of dried marjoram to make a "rack" in a large rosting pan and add a cup of chicken broth in the bottom of the pan. The ham was rubbed with salt, pepper and granulated garlic before being put in the roasting pan in a 300 degree oven.

We love country ham. I always cook one at Christmas.

ruthanna, are you near Mount Joy, PA.? That's where we had the ham that we liked so much. It seemed to be a smoked, roasted ham with big pineapple chunks. We went back to the same restaurant the next time we were in PA., but they didn't have ham.

We're about an hour away from Mt. Joy. Was it at Groff's Farm restaurant?

I don't remember the name of the restaurant. It was a restaurant on one side and a bakery/gift shop on the other side. This was a long time ago so may not still be there. My in laws live in York and we've gone to Mount Joy a couple of times while visiting them and stopped there for lunch.

arkansas girl, interesting that you can't find picnic hams where you live. Seems everything here is picnic ham or spiral sliced ham. When we moved to Texas over 30 years ago, I could never find a country ham. Always had to order one from Virginia.

Yeah, I've looked all over. Sam's Club had some last year around the holidays but they were very pricey. I'm from Texas and we always had Smoked Picnic all year 'round and it was super cheap. It's raw and has to be cooked but it has a smokey flavor and is cured(salty) like a ham. To me just the word "HAM" indicated it to be cured but I guess not?

A fresh "ham" is not what I consider ham. It is very good and it is the same cut of pork, but it is uncured. Ham is cured with spices and smoked. It is considered fully cooked, but it tasted better if you cook it some more. It is sold as a whole ham, a shank ham, or a butt ham. Shank and butt are just describing the pieces after a whole ham is cut in half. Sometimes they cut slices out of the center and sell them as ham steak.

The glaze I like is 3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice, 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Combine all ingredients and use to baste ham. I like to arrange the whole pineapple slices over the top and sides of the ham and then baste with the glaze.

Some hams are ready to eat and some are not....these are not fresh ham but cured hams. Check what you have before you stick it into a 300 oven for an hour to "warm it up"...

Everything that is a ham in this part of the country says "ready-to-eat" on the front of the package, of course you need to check first. However, I never like them even warmed up, I cook mine for 3 to 4 hours and add the glaze the last hour or so. I don't know about "country ham", because my family doesn't like it and I have never bought or cooked it.