Monday, March 22, 2010

Help/Suggestions About Whole Fresh Ham


My next recipe for Stirring the Pot is Baked Fresh Ham with Apple-Cranberry Chutney. I saved the recipe for Easter hoping to find a 5-6 pound fresh ham. After some serious searching, I have come to realize that finding a 5-6 pound fresh ham is next to impossible. I finally called Mike the butcher in Lexington and they do have fresh ham, but only sell the whole fresh ham, which is 20 pounds.



Mike said that he could cut a 5 pound ham from the middle portion of the whole ham. I'm okay with that. This next part is where I need your help. There will be two ends of the ham once the ham is cut from the middle. The two ends will equal almost ten pounds of meat and a ham hock. If there is at least ten pounds of meat left, Mike can make me some sausage. If there is not ten pounds, he suggests a roast or even just plain ground pork. At one point he even mentioned ham steaks. My mind was racing as Mike talked on about the possibilities. I saw a food challenge and I was seriously down with it!



Here come the questions. What would you do? Would you get sausage made? Would you simply have it all ground? Get the roast? Go for the ham steaks? Is there another cut I didn't mention? Do you have any other ideas? Also, do you have any great recipes for any of these cuts?



I ordered the whole ham today and will pick it up on Friday. The whole ham will come to around $30, which really isn't bad when you consider that you're getting 5 pounds of fresh ham, a ham hock, and about ten additional pounds of meat.



I'm now referring to this as my Whole Ham Adventure and think it will be a fun challenge. I welcome your ideas and suggestions!!



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