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!!
Holy Ham Hock Batman!! I will have to think about that. The possiblities are endless. For me personally, I would go with ground as my favorite soup in the whole wide world uses part ground pork. Also I have a Spanish Meatball recipe I will have to write down for you that has a white wine/almond sauce that goes with it, yum. Tough choice, because we love sausage too? I love the breakfast sausage that you get around the Tennesse area.A lot more meat than fat. Here's the soup recipe: http://thechefinmyhead.blogspot.com/2010/01/italian-meatball-soup.html
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday ~ LeslieMichele
Oh boy oh boy! If it was cured, I'd have a whole ton of ideas for you; slow cooked cider ham, ham & beans.... but fresh? Hmmmm I'd probably get some ham steakd, personally, because they are so easy to use in anything from soup, to just grilling them solo for a meal.
ReplyDeleteWhoa this is so cool! I personally would go with the sausage...there are just so many things you could do with it from pasta, omelets, casseroles, stuffed veggies...
ReplyDeleteHaha! This reminds me of the Leg of Lamb I bought for Easter last year. That baby was HUGE!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely make some sausage (a good excuse to buy the KA attachment if you don't have one)! Make ham stock from the scraps and bones, make a huge pot of split pea soup, then maybe Nigella's coco cola ham with the steaks? SO many fun options!
Now THAT's a hunk of meat! haha
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of meat. I like using ground pork in meat loaf and Italian sauces so I'd have him grind it up.
ReplyDeleteMimi
What a great idea. I have not done much with whole pork legs, it's the next meat on our list though. I was looking around for your pita bread recipe (I could have sworn you did that once) and I couldn't find it. Do you have one or am I confused? Thanks, Kristin
ReplyDeleteadamkristin1 (at)cox (dot) net
That is a great deal! I am lost as far as butchering goes - I generally leave it to hubs. But I am sure other bloggers will give you great ideas. You will find a use for every part. :)
ReplyDeleteSo many possibilities! I used to do a leg of pork marinated overnight in a mustard-honey-rosemary marinade and pop it in the oven the next day.
ReplyDeleteYou should choose a couple options like a few steaks and do some sausage with the rest (if even possible, I'm lost on butchering!).
ReplyDeleteWell, you know my answer. Introduce Mr. Ham to Mr. Hickory Smoke ;)
ReplyDeleteKim, I'd go for thick cut ham steaks. I've been told they can be frozen for up to 6 months if you wrap them really well. The center cut roast you'll be using for the holiday should be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou know I would go for the sausage! We eat mega amounts of it in my house. But really you should get whatever you enjoy eating. It's a terrific deal.
ReplyDeleteWe love sausage here, so I'd lean towards that. But not all sausage is created equally! If you go that route, make sure Mike the Butcher makes tasty sausage. You don't want to get stuck with something you might not like much.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big into ham (or meat for that matter), so I can't really help you with your questions. But I did want to answer the questions over on my post. First, I wanted to say thanks for the comment. Second, I wanted to let you know that I just used the store brand Bran Flakes and I think any flavor of jam/spread would be good, although I'm not sure what else you could do with the egg mixture. You'll have to let me know if you every try it with the different variations.
ReplyDeleteWow! I can't believe that you can get 20 pounds of meat for $30!!! That's a steal. I think that you should consider slow braising it to make dishes like carnitas or pulled pork sandwiches.
ReplyDeleteI can't help you there because I myself haven't tried making ham before! I love ham. I can't wait to see how yours turns out! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThat price is pretty amazing. I am not a ham expert but some steaks and some sausage sounds good to me. A fun problem to have! ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's super easy to make your own sausage. I make my sausage in my food processor and freeze it in patties. Couldn't be easier!
ReplyDeleteThe only problem wth making sausage from the leg is it's really lean therefore lacking in flavor. I've been a butcher for 14 years my suggestion would be roasts and stew meat, fresh ham steaks have a tendancy to be to on the dry/toug side.
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