"Dan Abel" wrote
> rfdjr1@ wrote:


>> Thanks for all the help and suggestions. The ham, (a COOK'S ham for the

(snips)

>> out absolutely tender and delicious. Best ham I ever cooked. I'll be
>> doing it
>> again real soon. Don't want to wait for a holiday to enjoy that meal!
>> Happy
>> Holidays to all minus one.
>
> Glad you liked it! A few decades ago, we decided to do an uncooked ham
> instead of a cooked one. Being that it was a holiday season like now,
> it was just ridiculously cheap. It tasted so much better that we've
> never bought a cooked ham for the oven since. Although the uncooked
> hams are cheap, they lose a lot of weight due to moisture and fat loss,
> but it's still a deal, and IMNSHO, much better.

Same here Dan. We've found most of the 'pre-cooked' ones have been injected
with all sorts of things (not just a simple salt brine in sensible amounts).
Ham itself in this natural un-cooked state is already 'sweet' tasting with
nothing added. Since it's already as 'sweet' as we want, added injected
sugars and stuff do not suit us.

Definately less price too. The precooked ones ranged all the way up to
2.89/lb. The actually *better* (if you dare to try as the above person
learned how) raw hams were .89/lb with additional money off if a member of
that grocery club. I think it was .59/lb then? Not sure exactly because I
tossed the recipts already. I just remember it was over 11 lbs (11.5?), and
less than 7$ by a bit. I picked the one with the best bone for later use.

Sure, we paid for bone at meat prices. Hehehe we often end up trying to
find bone for just .59/lb anyways (hard to find here in the city). Brand?
Dunno as it had one. Local hog farms likely. Had a warning 'must be
cooked' on the store label and that's all I recall. This one wasnt
pre-brined but we've gotten ones that have been as long as they list that
the brine injection is just salt and water.

Don's usual method is to pre-brine in the fridge for a day or so, using just
water, some salt, a little vinegar and soy sauce. This time I ran late with
the ham shopping so only got it the day before and we didnt bother. He made
a nice ham gravy to go with from the drippings and we let it shine in all
it's simple purity with just that.

I like the term 'Cooks Ham' for these BTW. The flavor is just better to me
and the flexibility in what you do with it is higher. If you want to studd
it deep with cloves or star anise, there won't be any competing flavors from
what the 'factory' _thought_ you wanted it pre-flavored with.