The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on November 12, 2009, 04:52:34 PM
-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x70898
Oh my.
spinbaby (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 08:23 AM
Original message
What to do with salty ham
We baked a half ham from our free-range half hog last night. The processor seems to have used way to much brine and turned out a very salty ham--too salty to just eat straight. This leaves us with a LOT of very salty ham to use up. I'm going to freeze most of it to use a bit at a time. Now I need to think of recipes that will use up salty ham--in other words, recipes that treat the ham as a seasoning rather than the main event.
Bean soup with the bone, of course. Scalloped potatoes. Fried rice. And then I run out of ideas.
Arkansas Granny (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 09:19 AM
Response to Original message
1. The first thing that comes to my mind would be a variation on a New England Boiled Dinner.
I think the classic recipe calls for corned beef or brisket, but in my family we always cooked ham together with potatoes, carrots, cabbage and onions and called it boiled dinner. Simmering it with all those veggies might bring a lot of salt out of the ham.
Could you soak it in water to remove some of the salt? I'm getting a little tickle in my brain that makes me think I've heard of someone doing this to a salty ham.
spinbaby (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 09:56 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. I think country ham is sometimes soaked
But those are dry cured and are a different kind of thing. This is plain old ham with too much salt. A boiled dinner sounds like it's worth experimenting with, though.
The defrocked warped primitive:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 09:56 AM
Response to Original message
2. Cube it in small amounts to make ham and Swiss cheese omelets. You could get by with using a milder cheese than Swiss, if you liked.
Cut steaks and soak them in water in the fridge before you pan sear them. Be sure not to salt any of the sides you serve with them until you get to the table and find out how salty the ham is after soaking. Soaking it might make it a bit more edible. Just be aware that you need to slice it first unless you want to soak it for a week.
Add it to anything you cook that needs salt. Besides salt, it will add extra flavor. That means soups, stews, spaghetti sauces, pizza. You can make ham and cheese pizza with it, not salting the dough and using a lot more cheese than ham.
Lay in an extra supply of beer so you can drown the pig after you eat it.
Paper Roses (318 posts) Thu Nov-12-09 11:19 AM
Response to Original message
4. We had that happen and resorted to soaking the cooked ham in water for hours then pan fried some slices, boiled the rest for pea soup. I only buy low salt hams now. Even then, I soak them before baking. I have even boiled them for a while. The finished ham was still good but far less salty.
I cannot figure our why the processors do this. Is it just a cheaper way to speed the cure? There have been times when I was kept awake by an incredible thirst from a too salty ham.
wildflower (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 12:12 PM
Response to Original message
5. Potato soup
Potatoes are notoriously good at absorbing salt; so I would cut it up small and put it in a large pot of unsalted potato soup. (Bean soup might work too.)
Uh.
Objection here.
One does not put ham into potato soup.
Potato soup is a purely vegetarian and dairy product.
Putting ham into potato soup is akin to putting apricots into beef tacos.
grasswire (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 01:31 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. that was my first idea, too
Cube some ham and chop some onions, sweat them together in a pot, then add potatoes and a bit of water and simmer until the potatoes are done. Then add milk and simmer gently as long as you want, until all the flavors marry. You could add a bit of sour cream, and serve with grated cheese and chopped scallion.
Grandma:
hippywife (1000+ posts) Thu Nov-12-09 12:19 PM
Response to Original message
6. Mmmmm!
Ham and cabbage.
-
A person couldn`t figure this out for themself?
Why do I get the idea that the OP just wanted everyone to know they had gotten this expensive organic ham? :whatever:
-
Why do I get the idea that the OP just wanted everyone to know they had gotten this expensive organic ham?
You got the idea because you're as usual right on the mark when it comes to figuring out the primitives, sir.
-
Do the rank and file primates know that it is offensive to muslims to eat pig?
-
My word, could they be this dumb ?
1) Boil the ham
2) Dump out the water
3) Boil again with cabbage or other vegetables, adding no additional seasoning. Slice and serve. Taa-Freakin'-Daa.
-
I couldn't imagine living the life of a DUmmie where the first place I go for advice, whatEVER the question be it auto, cooking, friggin' basket weaving, etc., was DU.
-
The mistake was in cooking the first. Those hams are supposed to soaked in clear water the water should be replaced a couple of times during soaking. I forget how long they're supposed to soak, but at least a day, I think.
-
The mistake was in cooking the first. Those hams are supposed to soaked in clear water the water should be replaced a couple of times during soaking. I forget how long they're supposed to soak, but at least a day, I think.
Nah, I like my ham like I like my women. Salty.
-
We baked a half ham from our free-range half hog last night.
A "free range half hog" is a spooky concept. Where does this DUmmy live, the Island of Lost Souls?
What is the Law? Not to eat Flesh or Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
And sorry, coach, but potato soup without chunks of ham is just gruel for starving Irish peasants.
-
The extent of my pig butchering knowledge is what is written in The Grapes of Wrath, where the fambly kilt them a shoat, cut it up in pieces, and packed the pieces raw into a barrel of salt.
-
In Tenn. they soak the ham in Ginger Ale for 6 hours, drain and soak again in fresh soda for another 6 hours.
One woman I know substitutes coke or regular cola for the second soaking.
People experiment with orange soda, and add concentrated orange juice to the brine.
Another I have seen done is to soak ham in WHITE vinegar for 8 hours, drain, the fat will peel away from the flesh, place back In bucket and then add the soda for another 6-8 hours.
.
Not to forget soaking in Apple juice or cider, YUM.
-
Gobux, I agree with you about the potato soup and starving Irish peasants. I prefer bacon in my potato soup. And no freakin peas like Greenbriar puts in hers.
This headline should have read "Granny feels a little tickle." :-)
-
In Tenn. they soak the ham in Ginger Ale for 6 hours, drain and soak again in fresh soda for another 6 hours.
One woman I know substitutes coke or regular cola for the second soaking.
People experiment with orange soda, and add concentrated orange juice to the brine.
Another I have seen done is to soak ham in WHITE vinegar for 8 hours, drain, the fat will peel away from the flesh, place back In bucket and then add the soda for another 6-8 hours.
.
Not to forget soaking in Apple juice or cider, YUM.
When my dad makes ribs, he boils them in apple juice before he smokes them. So tender and delicious :yum:
I don't really care for ham, so I don't care what the DUmmies do with theirs.