Here at gThankYou, we’re big fans of soup, ham and bean soups in particular. Pity we’re heading out of what I consider prime soup season. Before grilling season takes hold, however, I offer this humble homage to simple, versatile and satisfying ham and bean soups in this installment of Recipe of the Week.
Soup is the reason I prefer bone-in hams. There’s a good reason why so much meat clings to those bones. It just begs to be made into soup! In its recipe for Ham StockEpicurious says a shank will yield a meatier broth base. But I’ve had good results with all types. And if you need a pot of ham and bean soup and have no bone, you can always throw in a ham hock and get a great flavor, too.
Growing up, my mom always made Split Pea with Ham soup after our big holiday meal. In my mind, it remains the best ham and bean soup. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of cooking plenty of other varieties, too. Here’s a sampling of what’s out there, plus some good, basic references:
Perhaps my favorite reason for cooking ham and bean soups is that it’s actually better to make it ahead. The soup freezes well and actually develops more flavor if you serve it the next day (or day after) it is made. Enjoy a pot today, or tomorrow.
We make egg salad once a year. Bet you guessed that it’s the week following the annual visit from that famous bunny, who leaves colorful, hard-cooked eggs all around our house — in the yard if the snow isn’t too deep.
Likewise, I have favorite recipes I pull out annually following the big Holiday Ham Dinner. I make ‘em once a year and they’ve become almost as much a tradition as what we do on Easter itself.
In my estimation, there are probably about 101 ways to use up a bone-in ham. Boneless, too – although I favor a ham bone to make a rich soup stock. Here are the dishes I rotate from year to year:
It may be urban legend, but a statistic widely reported a while back stated many don’t know what they’re serving for dinner that day by 4 o’clock. If that’s true, I have to believe that, even now, those same people haven’t really planned what they’re cooking for their holiday dinner – let alone know how they’ll execute the meal.
As a public service, we here at gThankYou have decided to put together this no-fail plan (and menu suggestions) to get you started as this week’s Recipe of the Week.
Most big dinners that involve a roast of some sort needn’t be fussy to be spectacular. But it does take a bit of maneuvering if you don’t have a larger-size oven. Follow the same set of rules for cooking a Ham Dinner as other holiday meals, or dinners that include a big roast.
Plan a simple, yet elegant menu with family favorites or recipes you’re comfortable cooking. Too many new things will become overwhelming.
Include quick sides or those that be made ahead and reheated.
Write it down. Simply putting in writing the order your dishes need to go in and out of the oven, and how long they need to cook, will help things go smoothly.
Have fun and enjoy your meal!
To get you started, here’s a sample Ham Dinner menu that’s simple, yet satisfying and splendid:
If you want to make your own, these No-Knead Dinner Rolls are a big winner. gThankYou to Everyday Food.
You have to crack a lot of eggs (a full dozen!) to make this fabulous Angel Food Cake, gThankYou to Martha Stewart. We serve ours with fresh strawberries and hand-whipped cream (yum!).
No need to scramble with this menu. Use it as is or as a launching point for your own fabulous Ham Dinner.
In a previous post, I touched on the (sometimes controversial) subject of glazing Ham. While it’s a matter of personal preference, family tradition and regional rituals also come into play when deciding to glaze or not to glaze. There’s no right way to attain the perfect Ham, but as with most all things culinary, each individual dish (and cook) has its own correctness.
I remember, for instance, my aunt doing a grape jelly and ketchup glaze that, as kids, we thought was great. Today, I wouldn’t put that concoction on anything – edible or otherwise (sorry Auntie Barb!).
For some years, I’ve been in the no-glaze camp when cooking our Holiday Ham, choosing to serve au natural. But some of the following glaze recipes — this week’s Recipe of the Week – could convince me to try glazing this year. gThankYou for each and every glaze recipe!
If you love citrus flavors, try this Tangerine Glazed Ham, a recipe by celeb chef Tyler Florence posted by AptDweller.
Don’t prefer standard Irish dishes like Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guinness Pie, or Bangers and Mash? There’s another option for St. Patrick’s Day dining you may have overlooked
This week’s recipe: Green Eggs and Ham. It’s become our favorite way to celebrate St. Patty’s since we started marking the birthday of children’s literary limerick genius, Dr. Seuss. While Theodor Geisel’s birthday is actually earlier in March, schools, libraries and literacy groups across the country mark the occasion throughout the month with reading activities. It’s a natural tie-in to cook up some Seuss’ most famous food.
Green Eggs and Ham can be dressed down or made into a special concoction served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. gThankYou for all these variations on the theme:
The top-rated recipe each time I visited Epicurious a while back was — seriously — How to Boil Water. Certainly this was a spoof at 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.
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.
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.)
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:
Jamie Olver cooks up a simple Ham & Spring Greens dish featuring cabbage in this video.
Another version of Cabbage Soup from Emeril Lagasse.
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:
Ham 101 with a gThankYou! to What’s Cooking America.
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:
