So how do you glam your ham?

[Jenise]

Brian Miller's question about matching ham and wine got me hungry for ham and thinking I might switch out for my Sunday Christmas meal, then in the space where side dishes automatically begin jumping out of my brain to sell themselves, there was...nothing.

I mean, turkey has dressing and mashed potatoes and even green bean casserole, prime rib gets yorkshire puddings and creamed spinach, but ham? I have absolutely no tradition when it comes to ham. Oddly, though we ate a lot of canned hams when I was a kid, baked ham* was rarely a main course meat where I grew up--unless it was just one more item on a buffet table that had multiple meat options, and I've encountered it rarely as an adult.

The only reflex I have, and that's more from reading than experience, is to look to the southern table for inspiration, foods like cheese grits, greens, corn puddings, and the like.

So I am curious, when the rest of you serve ham what kind of side dishes do you serve with it?

*And, semantically speaking, why do we say 'baked' vs. roasted? Anyone have any clue?

I rarely serve it, and never for a celebratory meal, so my "norm" may not be at all helpful.

Scalloped potatoes; peas (or asparagus); tossed green salad; good crusty dinner rolls.

I think corn in some guise would be lovely.

Jenise,

I've used this Alton Brown recipe for several years now. I don't care for ham as a general rule, but this recipe is really good, if just bit messy in the prep. Perfect pairing with Reisling or a fruity style rose'

Richard



City Ham Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Ham I Am

1 city style (brined) ham, hock end*
1/4 cup brown mustard
2 cups dark brown sugar
1-ounce bourbon (poured into a spritz bottle)
2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies

Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly. Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If you're using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once you've made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don't worry too much about precision here.)

Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.

Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint). Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can.

Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.

Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.

*Cook's note: A city ham is basically any brined ham that's packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked "ready to cook", "partially cooked" or "ready to serve". Better city hams are also labeled "ham in natural juices".

...So I am wondering, when the rest of you serve ham what kind of side dishes do you serve with it?...

Grandpa's Baked Beans

"Ham IS glam.", says my friend Sam.
And my friend Sam eats lots of ham.
He eats it when he's in a jam,
And eats it when he's on the lam.
Yes, my friend Sam eats lots of ham
And any ham to Sam is glam.

rwj

Sometimes scalloped potatoes like Cynthia, but more often, mashed potatoes. Then, something green like peas or asparagus.

A wonderful glaze is Koon Chun's Plum Sauce, found in oriental supermarkets.

Something green?

Lime Jello!

If we were traveling to NoCal for Christmas, then we'd be having the traditional lime Jello with fruit cocktail (green grapes removed) and cream cheese bits whipped into the gel; it's topped with Cool Whip and chopped walnuts.

A recent addition to the holiday table is Mormon Funeral Potatoes. I cannot bring myself to post the recipe. It can be googled.

I'm with Robert's friend Sam - I LOVE ham.

[Jenise]

Something green?

Lime Jello!

If we were traveling to NoCal for Christmas, then we'd be having the traditional lime Jello with fruit cocktail (green grapes removed) and cream cheese bits whipped into the gel; it's topped with Cool Whip and chopped walnuts.

A recent addition to the holiday table is Mormon Funeral Potatoes. I cannot bring myself to post the recipe. It can be googled.

I'm with Robert's friend Sam - I LOVE ham.

You bring that jello dish to dinner and you're a dead woman. I actually think I've had the Mormon funeral potatoes, or something very much like it. It's frozen potato pieces mixed with every dairy fat on the planet, right?

Jenise, if you need back-up just let me know.

rwj

You bring that jello dish to dinner and you're a dead woman.

Just who was it who gave me the Jello cookbook a few years ago? I think it's high time we explore the gelatinous bounty within.

You are correct, the frozen potatoes are mixed with dairy fats but also with canned creamed soup so one can get one's sodium fix.

To me, there is such a beauty in making a sauce with freshly grated cheeses (not the pre-grated stuff in a plastic bag) and watching it percolate around slices of our local potatoes until it all coalesces into creamy ambrosia - it's not that hard to make. Is it really easier to open cans and bags and mix the contents together?

And to call them funeral potatoes? Wow, really put a lot of thought and effort into that dish for the bereaved.

So I am curious, when the rest of you serve ham what kind of side dishes do you serve with it?

*And, semantically speaking, why do we say 'baked' vs. roasted? Anyone have any clue?

We always have ham for Easter Sunday and at least 2-3 time more during the year. I don't bake or roast my ham, I always smoke it a bit on the Weber, and brush with a glaze of brown sugar, whole grain mustard and apple chutney (blended to a paste). Sides are always:
potato salad OR
savory bread pudding with mushrooms, asparagus and 4 cheeses
green beans (lots of seasoning and salt pork)
burbon baked beans
sweet potato hash (includes granny smith or gala apples, onions and thyme)
green salad (large and exotic -- as the spirit moves me)
pecan pie and/or
coconut rum cake
LOTS of champagne
ENJOY!

[Jenise]

Just who was it who gave me the Jello cookbook a few years ago? I think it's high time we explore the gelatinous bounty within.

That cookbook was to help you in your marriage to a jello lover, kind of like a gift of a sex toy. The results were never meant to appear in public.

You are correct, the frozen potatoes are mixed with dairy fats but also with canned creamed soup so one can get one's sodium fix.

Yeah, a sodium fix for the whole week! Did I ever tell you about the occasion on which I encountered this funeral potato thing? I was invited to a pot luck dinner, where I was told that people were bringing side dishes. What someone failed to tell me was that the control freak hostess had pre-assigned recipes (I'd never heard of such a thing, couldn't even have guessed), and asked two of the other guests to make this potato dish. One of them used too little potatoes for the size of her baking dish, and the result was all of about three quarters of an inch high. And gluey. Yuck. The one that was made correctly didn't taste too bad. Oh, and what did I bring? A giant version of the Robuchon bacon and potato gratin. The hostess was initially chagrined over having that much potato, but my gratin got eaten.

slices of our local potatoes until it all coalesces into creamy ambrosia - it's not that hard to make. Is it really easier to open cans and bags and mix the contents together?

Well, you know I don't think so! Speaking of local potatoes, I bought the last 15 lb bag at Haggens Meridien yesterday, along with that hunk of Hempler's I was hunting for, so we have our Christmas dinner. Will email you about that separately.

[Jenise]

We always have ham for Easter Sunday and at least 2-3 time more during the year. I don't bake or roast my ham, I always smoke it a bit on the Weber, and brush with a glaze of brown sugar, whole grain mustard and apple chutney (blended to a paste). Sides are always:
potato salad OR
savory bread pudding with mushrooms, asparagus and 4 cheeses
green beans (lots of seasoning and salt pork)
burbon baked beans
sweet potato hash (includes granny smith or gala apples, onions and thyme)
green salad (large and exotic -- as the spirit moves me)
pecan pie and/or
coconut rum cake
LOTS of champagne
ENJOY!

Jo Ann, thanks for the ideas. Green beans would be perfect--the osuthern way, long cooked until they fall apart. Unfortunately, green beans at the store look pretty bad right now. Maybe I should get over that--during long cooking, it won't matter so much, right?

Dessert--I hadn't given any thought to that yet. Shucks, you're right that I've got to make one. Coconut rum cake--another good idea (I know pecan pie is very southern, but I just don't care for it much personally.)

(I know pecan pie is very southern, but I just don't care for it much personally.)

I was about to call you bad things, Jenise, but then I realized that by not liking pecan pie, it just leaves more for me!

We are having Christmas Eve dinner at Gail's cousin's home in OKC, and I have been asked to bring the dessert. I have no idea what is on the menu, but knowing Cousin as I do, it will likely be sprinkled with the occasional cat hair! I have desided to pull out an old recipe from Southern Living that appeared in 1992 - Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake. It has always been a hit when I have made it, and is so rich and moist it needs no garnishment.

[Jenise]

Robert, I don't pecan pie, it's just sooooo rich--pretty overpowering for a non-sweet eater like me. Chocolate sour cream pound cake? Recipe! Recipe!

...But my friend Sam thinks
Spam ain't glam.
In fact, he thinks
That Spam ain't ham.
My friend Sam,
He knows a scam.
Especially when it
Comes to ham.

rwj