So, working with what I had on hand, I founnd a great pineapple bakes ham recipe

[SheltieLover]

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/baked-ham-with-pineapple-brown-sugar-glaze/#recipe

This recipe is very simple & calls for light brown vs dark brown sugar. Tye only other ingredients are cinammon & cloves, the latter of which I did not have.


The ham came out super tender, moist & delicious!

Here is link:

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/baked-ham-with-pineapple-brown-sugar-glaze/#recipe

Much easier than wrangling with a turkey for sure!

The down side: no turkey high.

Enjoy!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Hmmm. I'm going to guess that it would work as well with

a non sliced bone in ham.

What I don't like about the sliced ones is that the slices are thicker than I like. I know. Picky, picky, picky. But absolutely, the bone in ham is the best. I always get the butt portion, because it seems to me to have more meat and is more flavorful.

[SheltieLover]

3. I got this one at Aldi & slices are very thin.

I also used a technique I saw on another recipe site.

Place ham cut side down & cut every 2" or so, top to bottom. Not very deep, about 1-2" so that glaze soaks in.

Worked really well. Very juicy & tender.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Alas, I don't have Aldi where I am.

But the suggestion about placing the ham, cut side down sounds good.

When I was growing up, and I was born in 1948, I don't think hams were precooked as they are today. Perhaps I am wrong. But I do recall that when we had a ham, there was always a layer of fat on the outside. My mom would score it and put cloves in each of the squares thus created. I honestly think we were cooking the hams, but perhaps I'm wrong. I can say that by the time I got around to cooking hams as an adult, they seemed to be precooked.

I do love ham. Perhaps twice a year I buy one, heat it up, eat slices with boiled potatoes and corn. The next couple of days I fry up slices of ham and chunks of the boiled potatoes. Then I start in on scalloped ham and potatoes. I wind up freezing ham portions that are the right size for additional scalloped ham and potatoes. Altogether, one modest sized ham lasts me at least four months, maybe longer. I live alone, which is a factor here. I currently have a ham in the fridge which I will probably cook on New Year's Day. Yum, yum.

[SheltieLover]

8. No Aldi?

So sorry to hear this. They truly have great products & prices. This ham was on specialfor 95-cents/lb. That's how I ended up with 2. but they expire mid-Feb, so plenty of time to enjoy another before then.

I recall, too, as a kid my dad would boil the hams. I remember him changing out the water a couple of times to get the salt out of them. I think you are right, they weren't pre-cooked.

I do the same, freezing portioms often. 10 lbs ofmeat is a lot to consume in a few days, no matter how yummy it is, although my adult grandson is here with me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I am in Santa Fe, NM.

Albertson's, Smiths, Whole Foods, and Sprouts are my grocery stores. A decent selection.

Now that you talk about your dad boiling the hams, I sort of remember something vaguely like that, and the extreme saltiness. Over the years hams changed a lot.

I live alone, and especially in the pandemic I've gotten very good about cooking and freezing portions. Yesterday I made something I call Chicken of Muchness, which is an adaptation of a Middle Eastern recipe which results in a chicken soup flavored mainly with cinnamon sticks and also has crushed and diced tomatoes. I love this, and I now have ten or more portions in my freezer. Plus, nearly two weeks ago I made a pot roast, then turned most of it into beef barley soup, again with ten or so portions in the freezer. Along with the ham, I barely need to buy groceries for the next few weeks. Not to mention the frozen turkey breast I bought a while back.

I'm a middle child, third of six, and learned very early to cook. My mother, god love her, was not a good cook and I think she didn't like the food preparation required for a large family. So I took over at a young age. I could fry bacon and scramble eggs by the time I was four. A few years later I took over making gravy, because she totally botched that. We were also relatively poor (no surprise here) and when she moved the five of us still at home from northern New York State to Tucson, AZ, in 1962, things got more intense. She was a nurse, and she was leaving an abusive, alcoholic husband/father. She knew she could get work anywhere, but back then nursing paid almost nothing. So she worked as many extra shifts as she could get, because we needed the money. Which meant I could go for weeks not seeing her. I learned to be creative, and when I had a weekend babysitting job a year or so later, I spent what I earned on groceries. My younger sister still has fond memories of the times I'd get up very early and make doughnuts from scratch before school on a weekday. And my corned beef hash.

I happen to love my own cooking. I don't know how it measures up on a real world scale, but people generally seem to like it. I cheerfully share recipes, and I always include whatever secrets or special tips I know.

Here's one, just for fun. It's really good for any kind of pot luck. It's also wonderful for the vegetarians and vegans out there.

Butter Bean Salad
Ingredients
• 2 cans butter beans, rinsed and drained (15 ounces each)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (1/3 palmful)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 large lemon, juiced
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Toss to coat beans and vegetables evenly in dressing. Serve and enjoy!
It can also be multiplied if you need to make a truly large portion.

[SheltieLover]

10. I'd trade Aldi to be in NM - LOL

We have Kroger, Sprouts, &;Wal-Mart - only 12 miles away. Closer to 20 mi. Away are Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, and Whole Foods. I love Fresh Market, but never travel that far for the same types of items O can get much closer.

I'm surprised to hear Aldi isn't in your area, though.

That's great that you cook & freeze portions. I might do that, too, but between my grandson & I we usually finish up a pot of chili, soup, a ham, ir small -12 lb. or so - turkey in 3-4 days.

I'll probably freeze some of this ham, though, because a friend dropped a ton more food for us last night at our door. Steaks, ribs, sides, & desserts.

I think you are right that hams used to be much saltier. I can recall dad swapping out the ham water 2 or 3 times.

Wow,you really did learn to cook early in life! I'll bet ypur siblings loved you for that!

What else do you put in your Chicken of Muchness? It sounds interesting.

Ty for sharing your butter bean salad recipe! It sounds delicious. I'll have to give it a try!

I enjoy my own cooking, too. One of my favs is cabbage soup:

1 lg can crushed tomatoes
1 smaller can diced tomatoes
1 qt. Low salt beef broth
1 small to med head cabbage
2 lb 90% lean burger
1 medium onion
Salt, pepper, & garlic to taste

Yummy!

Enjoy!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Here's my Chicken of Muchness recipe.

Chicken of Muchness

2 chicken leg quarters
3 or 4 carrots
2 cans of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion
3 or 4 cups of chicken broth
3 bay leaves
3 cinnammon sticks
½ to ¾ tsp each of celery salt, marjoram, thyme, basil, and tarragon
olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour

Bring the chicken to a boil with just enough water to cover. Turn heat down to simmer and skim off scum and fat that comes to the surface. This will take ten to fifteen minutes.

Once skimming is done, put the bay leaves, peeled carrots, and cinnamon sticks in pot with chicken, cover and let simmer for an hour.

Remove carrots and chicken. Let them cool while you sauté the sliced onion in a little olive oil. You want them to get a little brown. Put in soup pot. Add the tomatoes.

Make a roux with the butter and flour in that same pan, then add a cup or two of broth. Stir and let it thicken over the heat until it seems thick enough. Pour into pot.

Cut up the carrots, strip the chicken from the bones and return to soup pot. Now add the other seasonings. You will probably need to add more chicken broth to have the right amount of liquid.

Cover and simmer for an hour or so.


I used to include green pepper, but eventually realized that it didn't really freeze well. If you want, separately make rice towards the end of the cooking time, put some in a bowl, then add the soup.

This also sizes up well. The batch I made the other day used three large chicken leg quarters. a large can of crushed tomatoes, and a small can of diced tomatoes. You can adjust the other ingredients as needed. I have something like eight batches in the freezer right now.

[SheltieLover]

12. Sounds really yummy!

Ty so much!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. Oh, it is yummy.

It's vastly adapted from a Middle Eastern chicken recipe I got in 1979 or so. I no longer have the original, alas, because it would be interesting to compare that to what I now make. At the time I was taking a Middle Eastern History class, and at the end of the year, instead of a final, the teacher had a get-together pot luck at her home. She handed out menus, and because she knew that not everyone would cook, also included information on several local Middle Eastern restaurants to get carry-out. This was in the Washington DC area.

Anyway, I was one of about six or so who chose to make the chicken recipe, and what was totally fascinating was to what extent each person interpreted that recipe a bit differently. So each version was quite different from any others.

It's been so long that I can no longer recall why or how it became a soup, because the original was absolutely not a soup.

I really do like to cook, and I really like my own cooking.

[jpak]

2. Get some cloves, it is so good

My mom made baked hams studded with whole cloves

So good

[SheltieLover]

4. Oh they are super delic!

Just didn't have any on hand & avoiding maskholes like the plague that they literally are.

I have another identical ham.in the fridge, I'll try to get cloves before making that one.

Thx!

[chillfactor]

6. I had roasted chicken today with all the trimmings.

Have a spiral ham for New Year's Day. Will have to try your recipe.

[SheltieLover]

7. It's so good & will be even better with cloves

I have another 1 in the Fridge. Aldi had then on sale for 95-cents/lb.

My can of pineapple was chunks & it never did boil down into a sort of paste.

Let me know what you think of the recipe if you try it.

Enjoy!