Sunday Dinner:Ham It Up

My kids love ham. And it's not just because their dad's Filipino-American and thus a natural pork lover. I, the "nice" Jewish girl was emphatically NOT raised kosher, and ham is one of my favorites too.

Several times a year--definitely around Christmas and Easter--hams are sold at great prices at our local stores. Back in December I got a nice 9 pound shank half for about $1.29 a pound.  I usually try to buy a ham right near the end of the holidays and store it in the fridge until February and SC's birthday. It's shrink wrapped and usually will keep for several months--check the date on the tags.

This Friday will be SC's birthday. She wants a tortellini salad with ham in it for her birthday lunch. So Sunday night dinner was ham.

I like to cook ham by a method you'll find in Nigella Lawson's book How To Eat  (and in lots of other books too)--by simmering it in cola. And then when it's done, you can cover it in a brown sugar/mustard blend and bake it for about 10-15 minutes, though I don't always bother with that.

 We usually eat this with sweet potatoes cooked in a mild brown sugar syrup--I'll post that recipe later this week.

Of course there's lots of leftovers. Some will go in the tortellini salad, which is just tortellini, ham, peas, tomatoes and shrimp (though I omit the shrimp for JR) tossed with a little parmesan cheese. More will go in a frittata--an open faced omlette.

The ham bone will get simmered in my crock pot with white beans, a bay leaf and some water to make a soup/stew. Wonderful cold weather food!

Try this and enjoy it. Make it once and I bet you'll find yourself watching for the next time ham goes on sale.

Ham In Cola  (adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe)

Hams come in various sizes and cuts. You are looking for a shank or butt half, the sort that's wrapped in shrink wrap, NOT fancy red foil. They average anywhere from 6-10 pounds usually.

You need a large, DEEP pot for this, because the ham needs to be covered as much as possible in the liquid. I bought a tall cheap stockpot in Target and use it mainly for cooking hams.

Before you put the ham in the pot, rinse it thoroughly under cold running water. I try to buy reduced salt hams, but you can also put the ham in water, bring it to a boil, and then drain it to remove more salt.

Place the ham in your pot and pour cola over it. I buy a 3 liter bottle of the cheap store stuff, but you can use any brand, or even try a flavored cola. Add enough water to cover the ham.

Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat. Cover the pan partly and let it simmer.

Check the label for cooking instructions in terms of temperature.  Usually if your ham is marked "partially cooked" you need to bring it to 160 degrees F for it to be cooked. A "fully cooked" ham is done at 148 degrees F.  A 9 pound "cooked" ham half took  about 2-3 hours to cook--this is where a probe thermometer comes in handy.  Allow extra time if you are bringing your ham right out of the fridge--it'll take time just to come up to room temperature.

You may want to turn the ham once or twice, and you will find that the temperature will vary from part to part.

Remove the ham from the pot (I use a big fork and oversized spatula for mine), and remove any skin. You will probably want to remove most of the fat too.It's ready to serve, but you can add a crust:

Heat your oven to 425 degrees F

Combine  1 cup bread crumbs, 2 cups brown sugar and 1 tbs of mustard powder in a small bowl. Add enough liquid from the ham to make a paste that is stiff  enough to handle---add just enough liquid so it's not too runny.

Place the ham in a big pan. Some people like to score the ham --use a sharp knife to cut diagonal lines in the ham, then criss-cross them to make a diamond pattern--but this isn't necessary, though it looks nice. Cover the ham with the  brown sugar mix and cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Eat and enjoy!

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