Ham For the Shelter

[Corinne]

I kinda doubt anyone is around tonight but just in case - I need some more advice. I was told that I would have 3 spiral sliced hams to cook for tomorrow evening's meal. Stopped by the shelter today to drop some food off & check things out. That's when I found out that there is only 1 spiral sliced ham, along with several shank & butt portions.

I was ready to go with the spiral hams - had my recipe & all. Now, I need to come up with a new plan quickly.

First of all, what's the difference between shank & butt portions in terms of flavor. Is one cut better than the other?
Second - I really don't want to just put the ham in the oven & bake it for 20 minutes per pound. Blah! Boring! What can I do to jazz it up a little? I will have to use ingredients on hand since all the grocery stores are closed now. I am seriously thinking about cooking them in oven bags, for starters. I was hoping that would keep the hams moist & ease clean up.

If anyone's around & can offer me some advice, I'd really appreciate it!

 

[amber]

I dont know much about meat cuts, but I like your idea of putting into a bag, I would also add some brown sugar as well. The moisture in the ham should make for a nice liquid. Then I would open the bag or remove it from the bag to let it carmelize a bit. Hope that helps. That is really nice of you to help out at the shelter. Merry Christmas to you.

 

[auntdot]

Heck, long before spiral cooked hams we would just glaze the things.

Score the fat on the meat and then put on the glaze several times during the cooking.

Glaze is typically some source of sugar, a fruit juice, and mustard.

Some recipes:

1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp mustard
1/2 cup apple juice

or.........

1 16 oz can of apricots
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice

Drain apricots, reserving syrup, and puree apricots in the blender. Mix sugar and mustard, combine with apricots, 1/4 cup of the apricot syrup and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now the stores are closed.

So mix up some sugar source, brown sugar always works, as will syrup, any syrup, or just plain white sugar, some regular mustard, Coleman's will work as will any old yellow or Dijon mustard you have in your fridge, and then something fruity. Yes, OJ will do just fine if that is all you have. And if need be you can find all of these at the convenience store, which will be open.

Just a thought.

As far as the taste of butt vs shank, I like them both.

Have a very Merry Christmas, and don't worry, the hams will turn out fine.

Sorry this is so late, but just got on the web.

Edited for spelling, I hate when I have to do that.

 

[Constance]

A whole ham has a shank end and a butt end. The shank has a larger percentage off bone and fat, but it's still very tasty, and that big bone makes for great ham & beans later.
I like a glaze of pineapple juice and brown sugar.
Bless you for your work at the shelter.

 

[Corinne]

Thank you to everyone for your sage advice. Yes, I remember when Spiral Sliced Hams didn't exist. I'm OK with that - I just wanted to know what I was preparing ahead of time!
Here's what I did with the hams at the shelter & it was very good! I used "turkey oven bags" - not the foil ones. Shook a TBSP of flour in them. Put the ham inside, cut side down, closed them up, put them in a "hotel pan" & baked them in a 350 oven for several hours. Didn't bother with the glaze or anything else. I was pleased with the results.

 

[Constance]

Corinne, we didn't bother to glaze our ham either. We just put it in a Hamilton Beach roaster with a cup of water. It was so good.
Happy New Year!

 

[licia]

I didn't glaze ours either. I really like the taste of the ham as basic - since there are so many flavorful side dishes. Also the bones are better in bean soup or whatever I'm making if it isn't glazed (I think).