Instructions: Do you know your ham, maam? How about your lamb, scalloped potatoes and hard-boiled eggs?

Today we present a primer on everything Easter, from the calories in jelly beans (ulp!) to the finer points of preparing the big dinner.

If youre hazy about the length of time to cook a ham or want to know why some hard-boiled eggs are so darn hard to peel, read on.

Treats: Lets get the bad news out of the way. Here are the calorie counts for a few Easter goodies:
Cadburys Creme Egg, 180

Chocolate bunny (7 ounces), 660

Jelly Beans (Brachs, 1 ounce), 100

Marshmallow Peep, 32

Reeses Peanut Butter Egg, 180

Hard-cooked eggs

Notice we didnt write "hard-boiled." Boiling produces that greenish ring around the yolk and makes the egg rubbery. The best method for hard-cooking eggs is to place clean, uncracked eggs in a pan of cold water.

Bring to a boil, cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 15 minutes. Your eggs will be firm but not bouncy, with an almost creamy (but fully cooked) yolk.

Doesnt it drive you crazy when the hard-cooked egg white sticks to the shell? The solution is to buy your eggs several days - preferably a week - in advance. The shells of older eggs slip right off, while the shells of very fresh eggs stick like glue.

The explanation for this is that eggs are porous. Over time, air enters the shell and forms a pocket between the shell and the tissue-thin membrane lining the shell. When eggs are very fresh, there is no air pocket and the shell sticks to the egg white.

Dont allow hard-cooked eggs to remain at room temperature for longer than two hours. Yes, your grandmother and maybe even your parents let the colored eggs sit out all day and no one became ill.

But in your parents day, there was no such thing as salmonella enteritidis, a nasty bacterium that has infected some of Americas in-shell eggs. Refrigerate the eggs to be safe. Hard-cooked eggs will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

To help the egg dye cling to the shells, use hot water and add a splash of vinegar.

The ham

Bone-in hams are thought to have more flavor than boneless hams.

Some people dont like bone-in hams because they seem hard to carve. They arent, actually. Just slice the ham down the length of the meat - horizontally, as it were - instead of perpendicular to the cutting board.

Prices range from a low of about $1.29 a pound for a semiboneless to a top-shelf $2.69 for glazed, spiral-cut ham. But which ham to buy? (April 2001 prices)

In order of preference, based on how much water has been added, here are the four categories of ham:
Ham. Nothing is added, and the ham goes through a long, slow cure. This is the dry-cured ham known as country ham. Its seldom found in stores.

Ham with natural juices. No water is added, but the curing is quicker.

Ham, water added. Some water is injected into the ham.

Ham and water product. Lots of water has been injected into the meat. Youre paying for water at ham prices.

The label will tell you which kind of ham youre buying. If the ham has water added, make sure that is reflected in the price. Also, look for "naturally smoked" on the label. This means it was smoked over a smoldering fire, rather than injected with smoke flavoring.

Most hams are fully cooked, but heating brings out the flavor. A modern cured ham (not a country ham) should be baked uncovered at 325 degrees for 15 minute

The lamb

You walk to a different drummer. Maybe youre of Greek heritage, or you just like the taste of juicy, rosy-red spring lamb rubbed with rosemary.

The best cut to cook for a crowd is rack of lamb or its cousin, crown roast

(two racks tied in a circle). But you have to be Daddy Warbucks to afford one of those.

Easier on the wallet and just as delicious is roast leg of lamb. A 5- to 6-pound leg is cooked, uncovered, in a 350-degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours, until the internal temperature is 130 degrees. This produces medium-rare meat.

Allow the lamb to stand for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

Remove most of the fat from the meat before roasting. Also, remove the fell - the papery skin covering the meat. If desired, cut 4 or 5 cloves of garlic into slivers. Here and there, cut the meat to a depth of about 1 inch with the tip of a thin knife and push the garlic slivers into the slits. Then rub the meat all over with olive oil and about 1 tablespoon rosemary.

The potatoes

Scalloped potatoes and ham are as natural a combination as peas and carrots.

But we shudder to think of the sins that have been committed in their name.

Making decent scalloped potatoes is not difficult.

Making truly wonderful scalloped potatoes requires a bit more work, but its worth it.

The French gently cook the sliced potatoes before layering them in a casserole. The potatoes are simmered in milk or - if you want to go all-out cream. The milk or cream permeates the potatoes and creates an almost silken texture.

Next, the potatoes are layered in a casserole with gruyere cheese (real Swiss cheese, before the flavor is cooked out of it by commercial cheese processors).

The final touch is a dusting of nutmeg. Now thats scalloped potatoes.!

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