Baton Rouge, La. ? Any way you slice it, cured ham with its smoky, sweet flavor is a favorite Easter menu meat choice. Now is the time to start shopping for a ham and thinking about how you want to season and garnish it.

Banish any idea that ham is a complicated meat to cook. It’s easy.

Peach-Glazed Ham, served with steamed brussels sprouts and baked sweet potatoes, is easier to make than it looks. See page 3D for the recipe.

In fact, if you get in a rush on Easter morning and don’t do anything more than stick a cured, smoked or “city” ham in a 325-degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours, you’ll still get a moist and tasty meat to slice and serve.

Ham can be glazed, sauced or frosted to fit your family’s taste preferences and your desire to prepare a dazzling entree for the Easter table.

If this is the first time you’ve bought ham, other than sliced ham at the deli, you are likely to be baffled at the choices you’ll find in the supermarket meat case.

Not only will you find hams labeled “ham with natural juices,” and “ham with water added,” you might also see an economically priced ham called a “ham and water product.”

Which ham should you buy?

Generally, the “ham and water product” is recommended as a slicing ham for sandwiches. The ham is injected with a high percentage of water and brine solution during the curing process, which means that the meat will dry as the water cooks out during baking.

This isn’t a problem if you keep the ham basted or glazed during the baking so that the meat retains some moisture and doesn’t get too tough.

You’ll also need to decide if you want a boneless or bone-in ham. While the boneless ham is easier to slice, the bone-in ham has more flavor.

In fact, almost all the “gourmet” hams the popular spiral-cut and honey-crusted hams sold at specialty shops are bone-in hams. Nutrients in the bone flavor the meat as it cooks.

Hams usually come either partially cooked or fully cooked. Even the fully cooked ham’s taste and texture improve with additional cooking at home the additional baking firms the meat.

Some hams are closely trimmed, meaning almost all the fat has been removed from the outside surface of the ham. The closely trimmed ham can be basted with juices or seasonings or glazed 30 minutes before the end of cooking time, but it shouldn’t be scored before baking.

Scoring is when you cut diamond-pattern shallow slices through the layer of fat, 3/4-inch to 1-inch wide, all over the ham’s surface. Scoring enables the fat to melt off the surface of the ham as it bakes and opens surface areas for the flavors and spices from a glaze to penetrate the meat.

If you scored a closely trimmed ham, the juices of the ham would flow out too quickly as the ham cooks, and the meat would dry out.

Hams should be refrigerated before and after cooking.

Peach-Glazed Smoked Ham

1 half, fully cooked, smoked bone-in ham (7 pounds)

1/2 cup peach jam

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Rosemary sprigs for garnish

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove skin and trim all but 1/4 inch of the fat from ham. Score fat, just through to the meat, into 3/4- to 1-inch diamonds. Place ham on rack in medium roasting pan.

Insert meat thermometer into center of ham, being careful that pointed end does not touch bone. Bake 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare glaze: In cup, mix jam, mustard and ginger until blended. Brush glaze over ham. Bake ham 30 minutes longer, or until thermometer reaches 140 degrees. Place on warm, large platter. Let stand 15 minutes; keep warm.

Slice and serve with vegetables of choice (brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes go well).

Makes 12 servings.

Cook’s note: You may bake the ham ahead of time, store up to 2 days in the refrigerator, then reheat for 1 hour in a 325-degree oven.

Monte’s Ham

One 15-pound smoked (partially cooked), bone-in ham

1 1/2 cups orange marmalade

1 cup Dijon mustard

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon whole cloves

Trim tough outer skin and excess fat from the ham. Place ham, meat side down, in a large roasting pan and score, making crosshatch incisions with a sharp knife. Insert meat thermometer into center of ham, being careful to not hit the bone.

Roast at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Remove ham from oven and increase heat to 350 degrees.

For glaze, combine orange marmalade, Dijon mustard and brown sugar in a medium bowl.

Stud ham with cloves, sticking 1 clove at the intersection of each crosshatch, then brush with glaze, and return to oven.

Cook ham about another 1 1/2 hours, or until thermometer reaches 160 degrees, brushing with glaze at least 3 times.

Transfer to a cutting board or platter and allow to rest for about 30 minutes. Carve and serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes about 30 servings.