Let's talk Ham

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I did find a sale ham yesterday at aldi's. It wasn't a great sale but since we haven't had ham for so long, I decided we would try it. Lately I've been seeing hams for $30-40 at the regular grocery store, and that's just too much $$ for me to spend.

Bone in, smoked, spiral cut, $1.49/lb, natural juices (no water added). I remembered what everyone said about being careful not to dry it out. There were fatty parts on the outside. Warmed it up and OMG it was wonderful, moist, slightly salty smoked. For around $14, there is a bone with quite a bit of meat on it, and sandwiches for dinner last night, and another 6 meals for 3 of us put in the freezer.
It was good enough that I'll go get another one for the freezer.

That is a great deal!
 
Is it really? I saw someone said they picked up some for 99 cents/lb, but, I was JUST hankering for some smoked ham!

Good smoked ham with natural juices and no added water...great deal! Sounds like better quality.

I found the $1.99 a pound corned beef to be much saltier than the $2.18 corned beef. Lower quality, lower price.
 
Hams should be going on sale by April 1st in advance of Easter. Time to clear out those freezers and stock up!
 
I haven't had good luck with freezing ham. I found it seemed very watery and less tasty when I defrosted it. Might have been the type of ham.
 
I haven't had good luck with freezing ham. I found it seemed very watery and less tasty when I defrosted it. Might have been the type of ham.


I haven't had any problems with freezing Ham(or any pork) as long as it is not frozen more then a couple of months.
 
You couldn't GIVE me a free Smithfield ham...I just don't like 'em...*side note, my mum goes all "gaga" over one*...HAHAHA...I have found my truest love of a ham comes from the VA Baked Honey Ham store over in VA Beach. The ham is seasoned, spiraled, & packaged, &, is expensive as all heck could be, but...that ham "sings" to me all throughout the year, to which, I am blessed to get one or 2 during the holiday seasons. Its moist, juicy, & packed full of flavor!! I have NEVER had a bad ham from there - PLUS - ITS SPRIAL CUT!! This ham is off the richtor-scale as far as taste, flavour, & texture go....LOVE THIS HAM!!!
 
If you want a TNT recipe for Split Pea Soup that's quick and uncomplicated:

Split Pea Soup
(2 Quarts)

1/2 pound Split Peas
1 Cup Diced Smoked Ham
1/2 Yellow Sweet Onion, diced
1 Small Stalk of Celery, diced
1 Tbls. Minced Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
Dash of Kosher Salt

Put all ingredients into crock pot.
Cover everything with 2" of water.
Cook on high until peas are tender (about 3 hours), adding water as needed just to keep covered.
Remove Bay Leaf. Turn crock pot heat to low.
Blend with stick blender until nearly smooth.
Wait 30 minutes with crock pot on low.
Blend with stick blender once again until very smooth.
Serve immediately with saltine crackers or for extra flavor, refrigerate for 24 hours.

Serves 2
 
Last edited:
MMM, mmm, mmm, the ham bone is half cleaned, in the broth, with the celery and onion and garlic and I just added the split peas and the yellow split peas and it smells.........D E L I S H, dinner will be good tonight. YUM YUM!
 
One way I use up the last of the ham is to grind it up with a bit of the fat, maybe 10% of the mix, then I add coarse ground black pepper, ground cloves, ground sage, red pepper flakes, ground ginger, and a bit of brown sugar. I mix this together and form little patties and freeze. Then I bag them the next day. I use these in dishes like, paella, red beans and rice, or fry them up and let them cool and add to omlettes.

I derived this recipe from a sausage recipe which also calls for pork and pork fat. I had some of this ham mixture left over and used it for a couple of dishes and now I make it evertime I have leftover ham. They really add some great flavor to whatever they go in to.
 
Last edited:
One way I use up the last of the ham is to grind it up with a bit of the fat, maybe 10% of the mix, then I add coarse ground black pepper, ground cloves, ground sage, red pepper flakes, ground ginger, and a bit of brown sugar. I mix this together and form little patties and freeze. Then I bag them the next day. I use these in dishes like, paella, red beans and rice, or fry them up and let them cool and add to omlettes.

I derived this recipe from a sausage recipe which also calls for pork and pork fat. I had some of this ham mixture left over and used it for a couple of dishes and now I make it evertime I have leftover ham. They really add some great flavor to whatever they go in to.

I bet they would make great breakfast sausages. :chef:
 
I also have had no problems with freezing hams...and we buy cheap ham. I'm watching the flyers for ham and turkey (although we have 3 turkeys in the freezer from the last time turkey was on sale--we roast a turkey about 1/month). (But then, we do have NINE freezers--so freezer space is not an issue at this time of year--we've been eating up the veggies from the garden and the dogs are almost out of veggies as well).
 
Last edited:
Aldi's usually has nice hams. I dont like to freeze mine. But, I warm it up for a large meal and use the remainder for ham salad sandwiches. Thats about all I like as far as leftovers go.
 
I like to add some diced to mac & cheese.

Ham salad for sandwiches:

Grate a cup or two of ham
Grate 2 HB eggs
1-2 TBs sweet relish
mayo
 
I buy Whole bone-in Smoked Hams....Sometimes the butt portion....and smoke them again....I never buy boneless hams..I also buy whole dry cured (Country hams) for the special (salty) flavor, and to make red-eye gravy...These are just my personal preferences...Oh, I don't care for spiral cuts...IMO they are mostly flavorless....tend to dry out if heated etc. HTH

Fun!

A man after my own heart! ;) I buy dry cured country ham with the bone in, but I get a smaller cut because the whole one is just too much for the small framily at Chez Julia. I order from Kite's in Virginia. Their hams are the best I've ever had (since my Uncle stopped curing his own), and they come from "happy pigs" (unlike Smithfield, which has turned into a factory farm with some of the most repulsive conditions you can imagine).
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom