What about ham?

17 years ago

Who can tell me about different types of ham? I have had some ham that I absolutely love, some that is okay, and some that is so flavorless - or worse, watery - that it isn't worth eating. And worst of all is the processed stuff.

I don't think it is the cooking or preparation, it is the actual ham, the meat, that is different. The problem is that I don't know what all the different hams are all about. There is spiral sliced, there is butt end, there is smoked, there is cured, there is country, there is the really salty Virginia kind, there's deli ham, there's fresh ham, maybe there's even more, but there are so many types of ham.

So if I just want a good ham dinner, maybe with a glaze on it, what kind would I buy? We had a buffet recently and had a smoked ham that was very good, would that be good for every other use? What about ham for use in soups? And sandwiches?

Who knew a ham could be so confusing?

Thanks,

Ann

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Comments (6)

annie1992
17 years ago
Ann, smoked ham is the one that most people are familiar with, and I use it as a main dish, then leftovers are used for soup or scalloped potatoes and sandwiches. The spiral sliced hams are normally smoked hams with a glaze package, my kids like the ham with a sweet glaze. Fresh ham is basically a pork roast, and cured ham isn't smoked at all, it's cured with salt and seasonings, like pancetta is.

Deli ham is usually a processed ham, sliced thin. Canned ham is processed too, and usually pretty bad.

The butt end is just meatier than the shank end, hams are made from the back leg of a pig and usually cut in half. The butt end is self explanatory, it's the top part of that back leg. The shank end is the bottom half, down to the "knee".

Country style hams (and I think the Virginia style hams) are very salty, it's in the preparation. I par-boil them before I bake them to remove some salt.

Then there is serrano ham, which is something else entirely, and proscuitto, which is very thinly sliced and dry cured Italian ham, sort of.

Annie
triciae
17 years ago
Ann, here's a list of different hams & a blurb about each...

You're right, there's a lot of them!

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Ham
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sands99
17 years ago
I've been ferreting through the ham types for a few years too and when I've dealt with a big ole honking hunk of ham I found that the butt half ham has a nice flavor I've glazed it myself with a silly recipe from Allrecipes and it came out like a Ham-Company ham

1 (15.25 ounce) can sliced
pineapple, drained with juice
reserved 1 (4 ounce) jar maraschino
cherries, drained
1 cup brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Before baking ham, place pineapple slices on ham with toothpicks and place cherries in center of pineapple.
2. In a medium microwave safe bowl combine brown sugar and reserved pineapple juice. Mix together and microwave for about 5 minutes, until mixture is thick. Pour some of this glaze over the ham about every 15 minutes in the last hour of baking, until all is used.

Ive done the spiral and all I found was it was sliced [convenient but...] and exposed to the air and not very tasty. The unsliced lends itself better to future use and soup bones :)

And if you want the ham here and now get a ham steak all the ham none of the trimming or deboning. Alot easier than a full cut chunk.
teresa_nc7
17 years ago
Years ago I solved the problem by going to a small neighborhood grocery that carried meats, hams, turkeys, produce etc. I always got the same cut there, cooked it 25 minutes per pound (as dictated by my MIL) and never had a problem turning out a delicious Easter ham that served a lot of people and had plenty left over for sandwiches, scalloped potatoes and ham casserole, and the bone for soup. I think things are more complicated than they need to be these days.

Teresa
paddy_99
17 years ago
The two best hams are ones labeled: Ham followed by Ham in natural juices. There are also two additional grades:Ham, water added and Ham and water product. The last two contain from 15% to almost 50% added water and are totally worthless.
You really need to carefully check the label to see what you are buying.

The country style, salt cured, hams fall into the plain ham category.
prairie_love
Original Author
17 years ago
Hmm, very interesting. So smoked ham is what I am most familiar with, it looks like. And I think paddy_99 probably hit on what my real question might have been - why some are just awful. Maybe I have not known if they had water added or not. I will look at that more closely.

Annie, I knew you would know! I love the country style (salty) ones, but the few times I have participated in cooking them we also had to treat them to get some of the salt out.

Thanks, this was helpful to me.

Ann

What about ham?

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annie1992

triciae

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What about ham?

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annie1992

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