Don’t bother. You’ll get dried out (and not in a good, prosciutto way) ham with a 1/4" of sugar coating that, like bump says, was applied in the store and didn’t have time to soak in. Crappy ham, crappy prices, and a line longer than at Caputo’s deli on a Saturday morning. Caputo has a new house brand of deli ham that’s pretty good and a good price.
How unimpressive is Honey Baked? My daughters all worked there and would bring home one of those Jewish Dilemmas and I still skipped it.
Ah, a real Smithfield with a bit of green mold? Hard enough to use as a bludgeon? THAT’S a ham! Well, after you change the water a couple times. My mother didn’t know that part.
It indicates trichinosis to me.
If you want a sweet ham, just make it yourself. Otherwise there’s no real difference. Ham is one of those things that doesn’t really taste any different. It’s how you flavor it that changes anything.
The only ham I’ve ever had that tasted different from any other ham was from a pig slaughtered on a farm.
My mom got a ham from Aldi last year (same owners as Trader Joe’s, so it might be the same ham as the recommended Trader Joe’s) and also another. I don’t think it was HB ham, though - just the grocery store.
Anyway, she soaked them in Dr. Pepper and sugar or something. My family preferred the Aldi one to the grocery store one, and they are all big foodies.
My SIL gets Honey Baked ham all the time (they live near a store) and I can’t say I enjoy it any more (or less) than the Aldi ham. And I’m sure Aldi was 10x less money.
Loves me some ham.
Last year I got a recommendation from the forum on a ham to buy for Christmas. I bought it, hated it. Too dry. Too salty. I have forgotten the name.
This year I bought not one but two honeybaked ham for supplying different parties. Everybody loved it.
This shows I am not a foodie nor do I have a sophisticated palatte. But they were good, and had a decent mouth feel, an combined with Cherchies Champagne Mustard made a d* fine sandwich.
Were you the one looking for Smithfield ham? I get the impression that was your first experience with country ham. If I remember correctly, you had a specific ham in mind that you wanted to buy. It wasn’t really a recommendation.
Damn shame.
Well the results are in…
Aldi - $1.99/lb.
Decent flavor, a little mushy. The Aldi ham did stand out, and not in a good way, but it wasn’t terrible and everyone said they’d happily eat it - it just wasn’t as good as the other 2. Passable.
Caputo’s (local chain) - $3.49/lb.
Much more “meaty” than Aldi with a better balance of salt and smoke. Great ham.
Honey Baked - $7.90/Lb.
A really good ham, not even remotely worth the price however. Every single person in a blind test thought the local grocery ham was every bit as good.
So, for special occasions or serving to guests the local grocery wins, for when I just feel like making a ham and want value the Aldi ham will do just fine, and Honey Baked while very good isn’t discernibly better than one at half the cost - will not buy again.
We got Honeybaked a couple of times and it was very good. Then one year finances were tight, and we bought a Raley’s (regional chain) ham and it was fantastic. So much better than Honeybaked and about 1/3 of the price. This year we served Raley’s ham and my BIL asked if it was Honeybaked because it was so good. We we’re happy to say no.
We’ve had the best bang for our buck by getting Kroger hams (our nearby grocery store), and disregarding the directions on the packaging by leaving the glaze off and just heating it up as directed.
Almost universally people have preferred the more savory ham to the sweeter version.
My wife used to work for a major publisher which one Christmas gave all the employees a gift certificate for HoneyBaked Ham. Cheapskates that they were, the gift certificates were for, say, $20, and there was no HBH product that you could get for that price - so you’d be digging into your own pocket no matter what.
That said, it’s tasty ham and I’d say go ahead and splurge. Overrated, perhaps, but still worth a munch.