I cannot imagine the need to cover a ham with water and then boil it. Already cooked, so buy a low sodium smithfield.

Just like my Grandma taught me. Brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, a squirt of mustard , and a little water, add Pineapple rings and Maraschino cherries if feeling fancy. baste frequently.

Dear Hubby is our ham expert, but likes to share his method. He takes a spiral sliced ham (Cumberland Gap, Smithfield or other) covers it with foil and bakes at 350 for two hours. Then he mixes honey with orange marmalade and the spice packet that usually comes with a spiral ham (add cinnamon if the spice packet doesn't smell cinnamon-y enough), coats the entire ham and separates the slices a bit so it runs inside and bake it uncovered for 30 minutes. Tent it again to rest out of the oven. Ours usually starts off at breakfast being served as ham biscuits with possible additions of scrambled eggs and sliced cheese. Fresh fruit is the only other side. The rest of the ham is served a couple of days later with baked sweet potatoes and fresh asparagus with lemon butter sauce.

I watched this for a half hour. That kid never gets tired,

Spanky! Hamming it up?

Think I could use some green eggs and ham right now...

That sounds good!

Spiral sliced hams are convenient, but they generally seem dry to me. I like juicy.

An Easter ham story: A friend's wife would always cut a couple inches of ham off of each end of the ham before cooking. Husband asked her why. She said, I don't know. My mother always did it. So he asked her mother, Why do you cut the ends off of the ham before cooking. She said, I don't know; my mother always did it. So he asked the grandmother Why do you cut the ends off of the ham before cooking it. She said, Back when I was a kid my mother did it because it wouldn't fit in the pan! (True story,honest.)

I heard the same story years ago. It has been around awhile.

TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2011

The Baked Ham Joke and The Problem with Legacy Issues
As I continue my blog hiatus, here is the Tuesday Joke -- The Baked Ham Joke:

Once upon a time, a mother was teaching her daughter the family recipe for making a whole baked ham. It was the very best ham anybody had ever had so they always followed that recipe carefully.

They prepared the marinade, scored the skin, put in the cloves, and then came a step the daughter didn't understand.

"Why do we cut off the ends of the ham?" she said. "Doesn't that make it dry out?"

"You know, I don't know," said the mother. "That's just the way grandma taught me. We should call grandma and ask."

So they called grandma and asked, "why do we cut off the ends of the ham? Is it to let the marinade in, or what?"

"No," said Grandma. "To be honest, I cut the ends off because that's how my mother taught me. I added the marinade step later, because I was worried about the ham drying out. Let's call great grandma and ask her."

So they called the assisted living facility where great grandma was living, and the old woman listend to their questions, and then said.

"Oh, for land sakes! I cut off the ends because I didn't have a pan big enough for a whole ham!"

Some more similar stories. FACT CHECK: Grandma's Cooking Secret

that was pretty funny, thank-you

I bake it.

I agree Henry.