Personally, I prefer au gratin any day of the week. As a child, I always found plain scalloped potatoes too bland. And perhaps because of the blandness, I perceived them as dry, as well, even when they were obviously saucy.
You do realize that Scalloped potatoes are typically cooked au gratin, right? I still can’t figure out what it is about the two dishes that allows you to differentiate between the two. Is it the cheese?
I’m not trying to be snarky here, honest.
With ham I like twice baked potatoes–bake them, slice them in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides while they’re still nice and hot. Mash them up with sour cream and a blob of cream cheese. Stir in diced scallions, bacon bits, fried garlic, finely chopped red bell pepper, lightly steamed broccoli, whatever you happen to like. Season with salt, garlic salt, pepper, again whatever you like. Spoon the potato mixture back into the reserved skins, top with sharp cheddar cheese and bake for a half hour or so. Best part about these guys is you can put them all together the day before and only pop them into the oven for the final bake, saving oodles of time on your holiday.
I know you don’t like spinach, but how about a spinach salad? Spinach, red onions, toasted pecans, cranberries, bleu cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette maybe? Or spinach, hard boiled eggs, bacon bits, shredded cheese (jack or a sharp cheddar) red onions, croutons and a ranch style dressing? Fresh spinach and ham go together like Martin & Lewis… 
I think it’s the milky sauce. It gets curdly looking. Plus, the cheese (at least in any scalloped recipe I’ve ever had) is white; not orange…so it’s extremely blah-looking. Also, it’s way soupier in texture than au gratins.
Classic french “potatos au gratin” are made with a bechamel (white) sauce. Other recipes contain cheese. There are hundreds.
In other words, you like one recipe for potatoes au gratin (what you will have for Christmas) and dislike another recipe for potatoes au gratin (what you call scalloped potatoes).
[/nitpick]
Most cruciferous veggies are very good with pork or ham. Brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, that sort of thing. My mother makes a casserole of broccoli, rice, and cheese which is good with about any dish. Cole slaw is a good cold dish that works well with ham. Most fruits go well with ham and pork, too, but apples and pineapples are especially good. If you make the Waldorf salad as suggested above, that’s something that can be served cold, and it’s very attractive. We were out of raisins one time and substituted dates, and it made an excellent salad.
I think that cornbread goes better with ham than wheat flour rolls. Others might disagree with me. However, the cornbread MUST accompany the ham and bean soup.
There’s nothing wrong with baked potatoes, except that they take up oven space. I’ve been known to make mashed potatoes, spoon them into an oven dish, and top them with sour cream, cheddar cheese, and parmesan cheese. Much easier to serve than baked potatoes.
When planning a meal of whatever size, I try to aim for a variety of color. For instance, I don’t serve sweet potatoes AND carrots for the only veggies. Nor will I serve ONLY peas and green beans, though I might serve two of the same color if I have a third veggie dish with a contrasting color. Of course, if the meal is serving a large number of people, then it’s fine to have two dishes of the same color, since there’s likely to be half a dozen side dishes. I also try to vary textures and temperatures…so, I’d serve something like Waldorf salad, broccoli rice and cheese casserorle, green beans, cornbread, squash, and pie. If your family likes fruitcake, this would be a good time to eat small bits of it.
Personally, I prefer a savory ham to a sweet one (and I don’t like honey roasted turkey, either), but sweet hams seem to be the fashion these days. If your ham has a bone in it, be sure to save that bone for bean soup. Late December and early January is probably going to be good bean soup weather, too.
Aw, there’s no “harshing my scallopy mellow.” That picture was like scalloped potato porn to me! But au gratin is fine with me, too.
I have a couple suggestions here for after the big event. Your spiral ham will leave a wonderful, meaty ham bone. We always use this to make split-pea soup in the crock pot. I never really liked split pea soup until I tried this way.
Another tasty option is toasted open face sandwiches with apple butter and Swiss or other white cheese. Spread the apple butter on a slice of bread, mustard is optional, then put on ham and cheese and toast in the oven. Sounds strange, but is surprisingly delicious.
Because eternity IS two people and a ham…
Correct. The au gratin potatoes I’ve grown up on aren’t soupy; they’re saucy. Scalloped are more like this http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Scalloped-Potatoes-II/Detail.aspx
Au gratin is more like this: Classic French Gratin Dauphinois Recipe
Sorry…no pictures, but they’re pretty descriptive recipes.
Very interesting discussion. My scalloped potato recipe, which I inherited from my mom and grandma, contains only potatoes, heavy whipping cream, and half & half. I was a little embarrassed the first time I called my mom to ask for the recipe.
I’m personally a fan of the make-ahead mashed potatoes that have the sour cream mixed in with them. I’ve seen them with cheese on top or plain served with gravy. Either way, they’re delicious, simple, and go well with ham (if you make ham gravy; some people don’t).
No pictures needed. The first recipe is almost identical to a recipe I once had when I was young. It is basically the exact same ingredients as a traditional gratin, but the bechamel sauce is not put together ahead of time. Travesty.
Scalloped is just white sauce and Au gratin has cheese, no?
Am I the only one who keeps reading the title of this thread as “What does God want with a Ham?”, and then jumping to a “Pigs… In… Space!” mental image?
Probably. sigh
Originally, au gratin did not include cheese, and one of the most common recipes for it only contains a bechamel sauce. Many gratins, however, do contain cheese. Both of the dishes you described are technically gratins.
Most of the edible recipes I’ve seen say “scalloped potatoes with cheese” which is really an au gratin, but with the slime sauce. True scalloped (without cheese) is the one that really skeeves me out.
I love to toss a little sour cream in mashed potatoes! However, I’m not a big fan of ham gravy.
I dare ya to set out some green eggs…
I’m “this” close.
You can go fancy - and there have been a lot of lovely recipes - or you can go ‘plain folks’. I made boiled ham & cabbage (plunk ham in pot, cover with water, cut cabbage into wedges and put in same pot, heat till hot and boil for a while) for my father-in-law and he raved about it. It’s good old-fashioned stick-to-your-ribs stuff. Serve with mashed potatoes, carrots and/or yams, and a collection of sauces (cranberry, apple, pineapple chunks).
I love eating gourmet food but sometimes I also love plain and basic.
Dust the ham all over with English mustard powder.
It has to be English.
Or…glaze it with Marmalade, I’m not kidding here. The taste is exquisite