Personally I don;t care fora spiral cut. To me they dry our quickly and are easy to over cook...or actually warm

A bone in shank is the only ham I will serve

I think I'll get the shank cut. Darn. I just ran to the store for a couple things (book club here tonight) and saw a nice shank. Should have grabbed it while I could. Oh well, they will probably restock tomorrow

Thanks, Chase and thanks for the hard boiled egg tip, too.

I agree with Sharon, I prefer the shank or even the butt, but I don't like the spiral cut. Picked up my bone in ham shank today.

~Ann

For what it's worth, from buying several different hams last year, the one from Aldi's was much better than the Smithfield ham.
I was surprised. They were both spiral, however, which I prefer.
The Aldi's ham seemed denser, less watery, and had a better flavor.

I'm not a huge fan of the spiral sliced ham either, really, I'm not a big consumer of ham at all. Usually when we get the hams from a pig, I end up giving them to Ashley and Amanda, their families love them. Elery doesn't really like ham either, he says he ate too much of it while growing up.

I usually have my own homegrown ham for the holiday, but it won't be ready this year. I haven't raised pigs for a couple of years and I just found a local guy who does the old fashioned smoking with a two week brine and cure and then into his smokehouse. Commercial hams often are just "flavored", not actually smoked, so I like his methods, we'll see about the final product. Our smoker is big enough to handle the bacon, but not whole hams.

Anyway, I trotted off to my local independent grocery and got a ham on sale, $1.17 a pound, shank end, no brand name, the store packages their own. The kids will eat it and I don't really care at all.

Annie

"Personally I don;t care fora spiral cut. To me they dry our quickly and are easy to over cook...or actually warm

A bone in shank is the only ham I will serve"

Ditto that. I've never purchased a spiral cut ham. Have had them at gatherings and they seemed rather dry and bland, to me.

Shank it is!

I have a few tips for a spiral i learned years ago from a woman from the Philippines.
She did not like it but her family insisted for holidays.
I've used this method since my mother and MIL always buy them for their cost value.
(then i am given the task of preparing.)
I soak it in a pot of fresh water over night with a dozen bay leaves in the fridge. (laking fridge space it can go in a cooler with a couple bags of ice). An hour before going in the oven, discard the water and add fresh to the pot. Bring to a simmer on the stove and simmer for a 1/2 hour. Drain, pat dry, and smear with a spicy mustard all over and into some of the slices...drizzle with a tbsp of maple syrup or a bit of brown sugar. Bake/roast in the oven for an hour to caramelize and get toasty. Less sweet and soo less salty, but still pleases the traditional crowd. I always get, across the board, "this is so much better than what we've had in the past". Left-overs for sandwiches are better and stock for ham and white bean soup is less salty.

Even just the step of simmering on the stove without the soak overnight will draw out some of the salt. -it does not turn out like 'boiled' ham at all.

Will be having Honey Baked of Heavenly (brand names) on Sunday at SILs house. I like them alot. She buys it off the bone. Kinda got into a tiff with counter person one time who was trying to convince her that bone-in was a better deal!?! The off the bone slices DO cost a bit more per pound but you have pretty much ZERO waste... thinking bone, no matter how close you get to it when carving, has GOT to be about 25% of total weight.

Thanks. I will keep those tips in mind for next time. The shank has been purchased. I am a no-fuss kind of girl, so I will just rinse it and stick in the Nesco roaster for whatever time is required.

We are not ham dinner people but I do buy a shank. I cut it up into slices and chunks for casseroles and the bone is prized for soups.

This week, most of the grocery stores are offering the shank or butt for .68/# with an additional $25 purchase.

I have had the spiral cut and they do easily over heat into dryness. Plus most are way to sweet for me. A friend gave me her bone one year and I used it for pea soup. Never again, the whole pot tasted of honey/brown sugar.

Well, in defense of the spiral, they don't have to be dry, it's all in how it's heated. Mine aren't dry.

Add me to the list who have never been happy with the spirals, maybe I didn't cook it properly, but the two I have done were dry. In Canada there is a brand called Cooks, which always produces a juicy, tender ham. That's what I've bought for the last few years and have never been disappointed.
Jane

Jane, Cooks is the only bone in ham I buy. I agree , always juicy tender and really lovely flavour. I picked mine up yesterday and will be roasting it on Monday.

~Ann

I bought a spiral ham at Costco. First time -- we usually have lamb for Easter. This thread has me thinking the spiral wasn't a good idea. Anyone have advice about the best way to heat the Costco spiral ham? Is it too salty?

I think that bumblebeez needs to tell us their secret since they don't have an issue with drying the spiral ham out. I'd say they just heat it until it's warm otherwise if you heat them too long that definitely dries it out. I still would like to hear from BB! I thought I was being really careful when I bought a spiral ham the last time I bought a ham, but I heated it too long because it was very dry. I wrapped it in foil thinking that would keep it moist but it didn't.

Wish I could help you, CC, but I am not the one to ask. I've discovered that there are lots of videos on Youtube that show how to bake and carve a ham. I bet there is one that will help you.

I will bake my shank in the Nesco roaster so I have my oven for sides. The video I watched recommends putting a cup of water n the bottom, so I will. Honestly by now you would think I would be good at these things but my mom has always done the holiday cooking. I was surprised that she finally agreed to let me do it.

I was going to make the usual pineapple casserole but I think I will skip that. Easter has too much sugar and butter involved in it already. No one needs any more!

Hmmm, I forgot about Cook's hams. I should have looked for one of those. Oh well.

Yes, the Costco ham is salty. All cured ham is salty. Different processes are used for different 'cures'. (many methods)

(-I appear to be invisible. I posted above how to desalt a ham.)

Some are lest sensitive to the salt, some love it. The sugar coating mixes balance the salt making it appear less salty but that does not remove it, just masks it. Directions will be on your package of spiral ham.

From a company in Quebec(lafleur) that has been in the ham business for over a 100yrs has this on their web page...

"Before cooking
Since ham is often salty, it's best to desalt it before cooking or, for cooked ham, before eating.

Desalting ham
In a large saucepan, cover the ham with water. Bring to a boil. Let stand for 20 minutes, then drain. If the ham is very salty, repeat the process."

-another recommended method, if your ham came out to salty, especially for left-over slices for breakfast, is to put slices in a zip-lock with with some milk and soak a few hours or over-night.
Milk will draw out some of the salts.
(-i use that method for desalting the final rinse of salt fish.)

The Cooks bone-in sounds delish and bone-in is preferred in our home. Less likely to dry out. DH loves it but tends to over-eat so we do a leg of lamb. His choice.

sleevendog, you certainly weren't invisible to me. I was already planning to return to your above post this evening to double check your desalting/cooking routine. To be honest, I hadn't noticed that spiral ham was too salty, but I probably don't know any better and am happy to do things better. That's mostly why I am here. It is also nice to receive confirmation on a technique, both from your Lafleur reference, immediately above, And from anyone else.

No, I saw your comments, too. I should have thanked you for taking the time! I may give it a try.

I don't remember what I do, but I follow the directions on the package and decrease the cooking time some. Basically, very tightly wrapped in foil, cut side down, low heat.
I like the spirals for buffets which make it easy to serve and they look pretty.
It's not a type of ham that gets a crusty exterior.

Thanks Bumblebeez! That's what I did on mine but I cooked it for the time and temp it stated on the package which was just too long. Next time I'll put the temp down and be more careful about the internal temperature. Probably just 145 is hot enough since it is fully cooked.