Every time I go to my grandmas, we have a nice, hot, juicy whole ham sliced up and served with all the fat and juice. Now grandma might make the same damn meal every time we go, whether it be May or Christmas, but that meal is absolutely awesome and we eat off the leftovers for the rest of the time. Knowing this pinnacle of what the almighty hog butt can taste like, it saddens me to see the other side of the family serve cold triangular ham slices that sometimes have the honey taste in them and makes it even worse.
Does anyone else have whole ham like we do? Does anyone enjoy those triangle slices? It’s such a simple dish to make, it’s a wonder more southern moms don’t make whole ham and opt for the presliced stuff.
I was at the grocery today and all the spiral sliced hams were sold out, the real hams hadn’t moved at all and were knocked down to half price. This is great for me but makes me sad to think of all those families celebrating the Jesus with an inferior overcooked waterlogged ham product like spiral sliced. Couple nice thick slices off a whole ham lightly browned in butter, what could be better?
I’m confused… the way a ham is sliced makes no difference in the taste. If by “triangle” pieces of ham you are talking about one of the canned hams then I will agree with you that they suck. If I take a good cured and smoked ham and baste it in something tasty it will taste great no matter how it is sliced.
Not all spiral sliced hams are waterlogged. You can check the label on the brand you’re buying to determine how much liquid has been added. I promise my spiral sliced ham tasted just as good if not better then the whole ham the in laws cooked the day before. And I’m betting from the flavor of the whole ham, it had more liquid added than my spiral sliced did.
I am also confused as to what a “triangle slice” of ham is. I’m going to need a link to a picture.
Until this year we always had spiral sliced honey ham and it was disgusting, no matter who cooked it or how. This year we had a boneless ham - I have no clue what kind but holy hell was it ever good. I don’t really like ham. I’m not even a fan of ham sandwiches but I will eat them. But this ham was amazingly good. I spent the whole weekend eating it by the handful, cold. Today I turned it into ham salad. Now I just have to find out what it was so I can get it again. All I know is it came from Costco.
cochrane: total agreement. It’s like pizza, or rice, or fried chicken, or many Chinese dishes. They’re good warm, when fresh…and they’re good cold, the next day.
A collation of cold leftovers is a perfectly wonderful breakfast!
My mom always baked a whole ham (bone in) and it was delicious. But even better was her ham hash made the next day. Cubed ham, cubed potatoes, diced onions and a small amount of diced green peppers. She fried it on the stove in a big skillet until the potatoes were cooked. By some magic the ham cubes never dried out.
No matter how much ham was left over, we begged her to make ham hash and preferred it over sandwiches.
Growing up, we always had a Smithfield ham for Christmas; I remember my grandmother soaking it to get the salt out the day before she cooked it. I loved it more than the turkey my grandmother would over cook for Thanksgiving, but either way; leftovers were always sandwiches made with the leftover biscuits or rolls from the previous day’s supper.
My mom buys us a spiral sliced ham every once in a while, and I think it’s great, but not as good as the country hams I grew up with.
Ham is hit or miss, IMO. I’ve bought a little cheapie one at a discount grocery that was possibly the best one I ever put in the oven (can’t remember what kind of ham, bone in or boneless) and we had a spiral ham that was for some reason heated up in a baking bag in the oven “to keep it juicy”. That one was a disaster, it had a distinct OINK taste. Today I will look for a spiral ham on sale, which will hold us over New Years all week. Put it in the oven for an hour to set the spicy glaze, some kind of 'taters on the side, what could be better? I like ham, and one of the the best parts is ground up ham and pickle salad sammiches, on marble rye.
Try this. In cross-section, some of the muscles in the leg will have a roughly triangular shape. And sometimes, a slice will not hold together, and it falls apart into a collection of cross-section bits of each muscle.
I love ham, but could never get into it as a hot main course. I use it on sandwiches or as an ingredient, but eating a hunk of it for dinner just never felt “right” to me.
Ah, I’ve never had a Smithfield ham. For some reason, I always assumed it was something like a prosciutto or like a Spanish dry-cured ham, in which you generally eat it without cooking. Good to know in case I ever come into possession of one.
Are we talking just sandwich or the only way to eat leftover ham period. I would submit ham and scalloped potatoes as a worthy way to use up leftovers. Ham and pickle is worthy too. As are scrambled eggs with ham.
Or ham in a bean soup (which is often why I buy ham slices, although ham hocks are better if available). Or to flavor a pasta sauce. Or in a stew that needs a smoky, cured component.
