Entries categorized as ‘All Recipes’
The top-rated recipe each time I visited Epicurious a while back was — seriously — How to Boil Water. Certainly this was a spoof at the Conde Nast’s mega food site populated with recipes from its Bon Appetit and now-defunct Gourmet magazines. Just the same, it reminds me of this week’s Recipe of the Week topic: Baking a Ham.
Many Hams come pre-cooked and, really, need no cooking at all. But most Hams will benefit from baking. And if you don’t make big roasts that much (like me), you may need some reminders and tips. Why bake? It brings out the natural juices and allows you to customize with a glaze, if you choose, to fit your dinner.
For a primer on Ham (the USDA recognizes four distinct classifications of Ham based on water to protein ratio), view this video from Alton Brown’s Food Network show, Good Eats.
After you’ve decided on which type you want to serve — city or country, fresh, bone-in, spiral sliced, etc. – follow these simple steps for the Best Baked Ham Dinner.
- Buy a quality Ham: Choose well by knowing what you’re buying. Alton Brown does a good job explaining it, but there’s good information on Ham at Wikipedia, too.
- Read the package: Most Hams you buy in your grocer’s case will come with some basic guidelines and instructions for cooking right on the label.
- Decide on a glaze: To glaze or not to glaze is a matter of personal taste (and some intense debate). Options range from fruity peach and pineapple, to adventurous honey mustard and hoisin sauce. Experiment with recipes from CDKitchen and Recipetips.com or go with a family favorite.
- Bake and check for doneness: One of my favorite kitchen tools is a digital probe thermometer. It is readable from outside the oven and alerts me when food is done. Consumer Reports rates them here.
- Enjoy! Slice and serve with your favorite sides. That’s another post, but please share your top picks with us.
While not exactly a no-brainer, it is easy to make a memorable Ham Dinner, whether it be holiday-related or for Sunday supper.
Categories: Ham Recipes
Tagged: Baking a Ham, Ham Recipes, Recipe of the Week
One recent chilly Sunday, we baked a ham for dinner – a rare occasion. I’ve always reasoned that big roasts should be saved for special occasions, holidays mostly. This got me thinking about Sunday Dinners my mom and Grandmother cooked, each always an occasion of its own.
These days, traditional Sunday Dinner has mostly gone by the wayside. Busy schedules of smaller families living across the country have made meals of “cheater’s chicken” or carved ham from the grocery hot counter more the norm. But preparing and serving a baked ham from home is really no more expensive or difficult than picking up a pre-cooked meal at the store. It’s all in the mindset.
We had a lot of fun reliving the Sunday Dinner tradition with our baked ham. But the best part was the leftovers, which is really why I baked the ham in the first place.
It’s show and tell time in this installment of Recipe of the Week where I’ll share the entrees my family of four devoured (plus sandwiches) from our 10-pound, bone-in ham. (gThankYou to all noted for these recipes.)
- Ham & Bean Soup: This fantastic version published recently in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that I made is from the Bogus Creek Cafe & Bakery in Stockholm, Wisconsin. This eatery was also written up by Jane and Michael Stern of Road Food, Gourmet Magazine and Splendid Table fame. Seriously good.
- Ham & Cheese Crêpes: Julia Child’s influence lives on in my kitchen as I continue to find new ways to serve her crêpes. This time, it was Ham & Cheese Crêpes I found at Cookography.
- Ham & Cheese Quiche: I score extra points anytime I can sneak spinch into a dish. This Ham, Swiss & Spinache Quiche went down just fine.
Rediscover Sunday Dinner, and all the rewards that follow. It’s worth every minute.
Categories: All Recipes · Ham Recipes · Uncategorized
Tagged: ham leftovers, Ham Recipes, ham soups, Sunday Dinner
While the days are getting longer, winter drags on (and on) in February. But you can cook up plenty of warming comfort with a few simple ingredients from your grocer’s shelves. This week, gThankYou starts its Recipe of the Week. This week’s pick: Delicious and nutritious soups made with cabbage and ham hocks.
First, a couple of notes on ingredients.
Cabbage has been called one of the world’s healthiest foods. It’s also cheap, plentiful, economical, and versatile, as demonstrated in cabbage-based dishes from about every cuisine (kimchi anyone?). Cabbage has become among our favorite ingredients for satisfying winter meals, with availability at its peak during the colder months.
Ham hocks are fabulous flavor boosters, often added to enhance soups and to make substantial stocks. They’re smoky and rich, and according to Recipezaar come from the lower part of a pig’s hind leg.
gThankYou for these recipes:
An added benefit: Making these soups can be as rewarding as eating them. Enjoy!
Categories: All Recipes · Ham Recipes
Tagged: Ham Recipes, ham soups, Recipe of the Week
Ham used to be kind of a mystery to me. Most Hams you find in grocer’s cases come fully cooked — you only need to glaze, if desired, then reheat. Selling an already cooked item most people bake anyway was a curious phenomenon.
Plus, there are a wide variety of types and cuts of Ham to choose with terminology that adds intrigue: Country Ham, City Ham, fresh Ham, cured, cottage Ham, spiral cut . What does it all mean? In the interest of clearing up any confusion, we offer this guide for choosing the best Holiday Ham for your table, along with the best recipes for the two primary Ham types. 
With his knack for explaining culinary matters, TV cook Alton Brown has the best definition of ham styles: “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’ “
These references will help sort out the other terminology:
Knowing more about Ham and the difference in varieties lets you be in control of the cooking, or reheating, whichever you choose!
Categories: Ham Recipes
Tagged: Ham Recipes, Ham Types, Holiday Ham
Snow started to fall last week in Wisconsin. Rudolph has made his annual broadcast appearance. And the grocer’s cases are piled high with Hams of all shapes and sizes. Yup. The Holidays are definitely here. It makes sense to plan some simple and easy meals for the busy weeks ahead.
While it has the reputation of a fussy dish, Ham is really the original home meal replacement . Most Hams available at a grocery store come fully cooked. Given Ham’s ease of preparation – just pop it in an oven to reheat – there are many possibilities. Use it for a quick meal or ingredient in a soup, for example, which cooks while you’re engaged in holiday pursuits. Here are a few favorites to get you through the harried holiday season:
Happiness is returning home from sledding, shopping or Wassailing to a pre-made meal.
Categories: Ham Recipes
Tagged: great ham sandwiches, Ham Recipes, ham soups
November 30, 2009 · 1 Comment
Some think leftovers are the best part of a traditional Turkey Dinner. Others have a different opinion (don’t ask about the year we won a very big Turkey from Wegman’s while living many miles away from family to help eat it.)
gThankYou! to Closet Cooking for Turkey Cranberry Quesadillas
Truth is, the vast array of ways to use up your leftover Turkey illustrates the versatility and economy of a big roast Turkey. If you’re still searching for ideas, consider some tried-and-true favorites from these great Turkey leftover resources:
You’re certain to enjoy the results whichever way you choose to use up your Turkey leftovers
Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI. gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.
Categories: Turkey Recipes
Tagged: Turkey leftovers, Turkey Recipes
A family member (who shall remain nameless) argues annually that Thanksgiving Dinner is the easiest meal of the year to prepare. Anyone can cook a Turkey, she asserts. Just pop the bird in the oven and use a meat thermometer to make sure it’s done. While I admire this sort of culinary chutzpa, it’s a view many don’t share.
This point is clear as I read many print and online food sections this week offering information on dining out for the big celebration next week. C’mon! There’s no need to throw in the towel, folks. We’re fortunate to have a wealth of advice at our fingertips to help create a wonderful and memorable Turkey Dinner with minimal stress. To offer you the best tips, gThankYou has poured over pages to pluck the top tips:
Thawing is widely considered the number one issue in preparing a Turkey. So, if you plan to serve a frozen Turkey, The National Turkey Federation advises you thaw it 24 hours for every five pounds of bird weight in the refrigerator. This comes out to 3-4 days thaw time when you do the math for a 16-20 pound Turkey. You can eat out or rely on pre-made meals from your freezer before Thanksgiving while looking forward to cooking Thanksgiving Dinner.
Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI. gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.
Categories: Preparing Whole Turkey · Turkey Recipes
Tagged: Turkey Recipes, Turkey Tips
November 9, 2009 · 1 Comment
The question came from a younger family member this weekend: “Have we picked our Thanksgiving Turkey yet?” Clearly, Thanksgiving is in the air as the big day approaches in just more than two weeks. It’s not too early to think about what kind of Turkey you’ll serve.
Choices abound. Fresh or frozen? Locally raised or produced nationally? Organic, natural or conventional? Heritage breed or Broad Breasted White? Pre-brined or unbrined bird? And how big does the Turkey need to be to stuff (er, feed) everyone and leave enough leftovers? (Confused yet?)
Luckily, there’s plenty of advice on how to choose the best Turkey to fit your needs. So, along with a sampling of turkey recipes, gThankYou this week offers a cornucopia of advice on choosing your bird.
Inform yourself about what will work best for your celebration and have fun picking your Thanksgiving Turkey!
Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI. gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.
Categories: Turkey Recipes · Uncategorized
Tagged: Choosing a Turkey, Turkey Recipes
A nip is in the air and leaves are all over the ground. And with three weeks until Thanksgiving, excitement is building for the big feast. Good thing experts have already planned menus and gathered tips and good advice for choosing and preparing your holiday Turkey, with plenty of info on putting together the rest of the meal, too.
Turkey help is on its way.
This year, there are more ways to talk turkey. Get Turkey tips throughout the season from Buterball’s Turkey Talk-Line. In addition to phone, Web and email help, you can now text the word “TURKEY” to 36888 and connect with 50 professional turkey experts.
In my mind, you can (almost) never have too many resources to help Thanksgiving go smoothly. So, to help you plan ahead, gThankYou has compiled a few favorite and new Turkey Help resources.
- Turkey tutorials and more with a gThankYou! to Foodnetwork.com. Here, you’ll find plenty of video plus tools like the Turkey Calculator to help get the cooking time right and buy the right size Turkey, and a plan for putting on a Thanksgiving Potluck.
- gThankYou! to user-generated recipe site Recipezaar posted its Thanksgiving Headquarters offering the top-rated advice and recipes from the popular site.
- Turkey Confidential with a gThankYou! to Lynne Rossetto Kasper and the Splendid Table for posting audio of her Thanksgiving triage radio show. This episode includes Lynne’s how-to put on Thanksgiving on a shoestring.
- Finally, Better Homes & Gardens’ new Recipe.com is worth a look. gThankYou! for lots of proven recipes here from appetizers to Turkey through dessert. Get updates by following them on Twitter at @Recipedotcom.
Aid your planning with menus, recipes and a host of other practical how-to advice in these pages as you approach Thanksgiving.
Lynn Welch is a contributor to gThankYou, LLC, based in Madison, WI. gThankYou® Certificates of Gratitude™ are one way savvy companies recognize employees’ great work at Holiday Time. The company is best known for its Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Grocery Gift Cards.
Categories: Preparing Whole Turkey · Turkey Recipes
Tagged: Thanksgiving, Turkey Recipes
