On Wednesday, December 19, 2018 at 7:06:59 AM UTC-10, Fruitiest of Fruitcakes wrote:
> On 19 Dec 2018, Ophelia wrote
> (in article >):
>
> >
> > "Fruitiest of Fruitcakes" wrote in message
> > news.com...
> >
> > On 19 Dec 2018, Sqwertz wrote
> > (in article >):
> >
> > > On Mon, 17 Dec 2018 11:29:41 -0500, wrote:
> > >
> > > > Most hams are cured because fresh ham has a very short shelf life
> > > > unless frozen and freezing makes ham dry and tough.
> > > > Also a fresh ham is a large piece of meat that most people simply
> > > > don't buy because even half a ham is too much or they haven't a clue
> > > > how to prepare it. I always need to special order fresh ham, it's
> > > > rare to see it out in the meat case. They come in cryovaced and once
> > > > prepared for sale they are only good for 3-4 days.
> > >
> > > 3-4 days, baloney! They last as long as any other uncured piece of
> > > pig. A cryovac leg of ham will last at least 14 days. And they're
> > > not uncommon. Here's a 20-pounder packaged on Dec 6th and Sell By
> > > Dec 20th.
> > >
> > > https://i.postimg.cc/zGrbrCkJ/IMG-20181218-145645.jpg
> > >
> > > Maybe I'll even go back Thursday morning and see if they have it
> > > marked down to $1/lb.
> > >
> > > -sw
> >
> > The problem we have in the UK with those vac packed hams, is that the meat
> > is
> > impregnated with various chemicals (not just salt) in order for it to soak
> > up
> > as much water as possible. Therefore its weight will increase and a certain
> > percentage of what we pay for is simply water.
> >
> > This puts me off buying anything in those vacuum packs. In fact, I now only
> > buy meat from an organic farmer who uses overnight delivery. His meats
> > arrive
> > in butchers paper, but with a couple of dry ice coolpacks and insulated
> > inside a cardboard box with rough lambswool.
> >
> > ==
> >
> > I always buy a big chunk of gammon and cook it. I then slice it up and pack
> > in small quantities for the freezer.
>
> I tend to do that with joints of other meat. I buy the largest cuts of boned
> shoulder of pork and lamb I can find, plus a big rolled flank of beef and
> then just do as you do. Slice them up and freeze them.
>
> When there are only two of you, you dont need to cook a great deal of meat
> at once.
>
> I can usually cut most roasting joints into 4 or 5 pieces, which lasts us for
> weeks.
>
> The farm also sell half chickens, which is enough for us over a weekend and
> any left over gets curried the next day.
>
> > I am not paying good money for the
> > chemicals in those vacuum packs!
> >
> > I do it with various other meats too. D. prefers it but it doesn't stop him
> > liking spam. And no, I won't be trying to make my own<g>
>
> Yes, it is strange. I make all the fuss over organic meat and then buy cans
> of spam and corned beef because I like them fried.
>
> At Christmas I tend to roast ham on 24th and turkey on 25th. The left over
> ham, and some of the turkey, is cubed up and cooked in turkey stock, then I
> make pastry and put the meat into various sized pies and freeze those for
> eating later in the new year.
"Organic" seems strange when referring to meat. I guess canned meat is kind of a strange idea to a lot of Americans but if you grew up where there was a shortage of fresh meat or lack of refrigeration, that's not the case.
OTOH, I cooked up some "beef of the future" tonight. Grass fed beef. Boy that stuff is kinda rank. I made some Filipino style beef adobo and that's still not enough to make that stuff unfunky! That's the breaks.