Imagine your perfect Christmas spread. Is it a table full of potatoes (au gratin or scalloped are our preferred), some hearty veggies (our Brussels sprout salad or our winter panzanella are tops over here), dinner rolls, ham… Yep, ours too, with one caveat: While we can all get behind the sides (and the Christmas COOKIES), when it comes to the main event, our team is surprisingly split.

Some Delish editors say a spiral ham is the only one to buy, while others swear by a smoked whole ham and say that scoring it yourself will yield the juiciest meat. And then there’s the question of which glaze is the most classic, with everything from cherry bourbon to brown sugar on the table. Why is it so hard to find a definitive answer to which ham is the BEST ham?

Turns out, the answer lies in your preferences. It’s just as much about what you’re doing with your ham day-of as it is what you’d like to do with your leftover ham. Whether you’re in it for the perfect forkful on Christmas Eve or just the best-ever post-holiday ham sandwich, we’ve got all the info you need here to make an exceptional baked ham—even if you’ve never cooked one before. Let’s get started!

delish!