what size ham?

[LimeSlice]

Christmas meats are a very serious business in this house. Very serious. Don't even get me started on the roast pork I don't get to touch it until it's on a fork entering my mouth.

Oh, dear I am much to much of a control freak to let DH near my pork! lol I get the shakes just letting him cook a BBQ. Such a control freak

[meow]

So as a former vegetarian this is all news to me... what on earth makes a good ham or a bad ham??

[Trillian]

NOOOOOO! Don't bake it. That's ruining a perfectly good ham. You just eat it. By the handful. We had a practice ham this weekend. mmmmmm.

Practice ham! I love it!

ETA - Meow, good ham just melts in your mouth practically. It is mouth watering and the flavour is just right - not too smoky and not too salty (IMO - ham is a personal thing LOL). Bad ham is awful - tasteless and dry.

[nothing2lose]

Oh, dear I am much to much of a control freak to let DH near my pork! lol I get the shakes just letting him cook a BBQ. Such a control freak

We are both control freaks here. We just have very clearly defined lines of demarcation. Pork is in the red zone for me. Except the ham. I am also occasionally allowed to cook bacon

[meow]

How can you tell if it's good by looking at it? I think this may be irrelevant to me though as we can't eat many cured meats... if you're talking about it being smoked then I'm thinking it's off the menu.

[Trillian]

Yeah, hams are usually smoked. But unfortunately you can't always tell by looking at it. We tend to get known brand ones like KR or Primo, but we did get a really nice woolies branded one once.

[onthefly]

You have to go to a good butcher who does their own. And you say - I need a ham for x number of people - and they give you one. Then you eat it. Then you go back to the butcher and say, I still need a ham for christmas because we already ate the other one.
Do not buy from the supermarket! Ask around for a good butcher if you don't have one you usually use.

A few years back I resolved to remove nasty chemicals and such from our diet. I changed a few things, then I considered ham..... and that was as far as I got.

[nothing2lose]

Yeah, hams are usually smoked. But unfortunately you can't always tell by looking at it. We tend to get known brand ones like KR or Primo, but we did get a really nice woolies branded one once.

I have to post a disclaimer here (DP works for Woolworths) but a couple of years ago we (he) left the ham buying to the last minute. The only one we could get in the size we needed was a Woolworths one. To be honest, I was less than pleased when he got home BUT it was beautiful!!! Now we get the Woolworths hams in preference to the others. Even though I am a Woollies Wife (that's how I self-identify ) I can, thoroughly recommend them.

I should point out that I am very fussy with meat too...

[meow]

The farm we buy our meat from at the market had hams last week but I'm clueless so I stick with what I know and ignored them I'll talk to them tomorrow and find out how they are cured. Thanks! And sorry for the hijack!

[Trillian]

LOL N2L, we were pleasantly surprised as well that a 'woolies' ham could be so good. There is only one butcher within 150kms that do their own hams and they are so expensive, which is why we've never gotten one, but most of the hams this year will be imported due to a shortage of local stocks apparently so we will probably get a 'Hampden Bridge Ham" this year because it will be aussie pork.

ETA - I found this info from Knights Meats (they make the Hampden Bridge Hams) and they say if you get a 'bone in' ham then you allow 200-250g per person (gross weight - not what people would actually eat) and for 6 people you would need a 1.5kg ham. If you get a 'boneless' ham then you allow 150-200g per person and would need a 1.2kg ham for 6 people.

[Astrid]

We got a lovely free range ham last year from a specialist deli, this year it is out of the budget. So back to Coles, normally the Bertocchi ones are not too bad.