Fresh Ham, Fine Cooking Style
Back at the Big Summer Potluck – I know! I know! When am I ever going to shut up about the Big Summer Potluck? Hmm. Not sure. It was too awesome. Anyway, we met Lisa, the managing editor of Fine Cooking magazine and we all took home a copy of the latest issue. And then I followed Lisa on Twitter. A few weeks ago, I saw this tweet from her:
The slow-roasted fresh ham is killer! RT @markscarbrough: Current issue of #finecooking – try the spoonbread. Wow. @FC_Lisa—
Lisa Waddle (@FC_Lisa) October 27, 2010
I was intrigued! In my latest shipment from the CSA, I got this, and I wondered, what do I do with this fresh ham roast?
So, I said this:
Is that in the one with the fabulous cake on the cover? @FC_Lisa The slow-roasted fresh ham is killer!—
Jennifer Adams (@breadandputter) October 27, 2010
As it turns out, no – it’s in the new issue with the glorious croquembouche on the cover. So, I found the new issue and now not only do I want to make a croquembouche, but I got to try the amazing fresh ham recipe. As it happens, the article even mentions 8 O’Clock Ranch as a good source to get the ham – exactly where mine came from! This recipe was meant to be!
Fresh ham is actually not really ham like we think of it at all – it’s not cured or aged or pickled – the “ham” just refers to part of the pig the meat comes from, usually used for making ham as we think of it.
My ham was smaller than what the recipe called for so I scaled the marinade back a little.
Here are the players – that giant green thing is actually a lemon, brought to us fresh from Florida by friends. Along with the giant lemon, we have garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper. That’s it! You make a paste in a food processor with some lemon zest and the rest of the ingredients, rub it all over the ham and tuck it away in the fridge for 12 – 24 hours.
The next day, it slow roasts and the smells may be so good that you might forget to take a picture before it is sliced up and served with a delectable sauce.
We enjoyed it – it was something a little different, although I think I still might have overdone the marinade a bit. I thought it all tasted quite lemony and my husband thought it all tasted quite rosemaryish. What we really loved though was the leftovers! The article provided three different ways to use the leftovers and I went with the Ham and Polenta Spoonbread.
It’s like a corn bread pudding with meat, and what’s not to like about that? It had serious comfort food quality, but yet was sophisticated in flavor.
So, that little fresh ham that I had no idea what to do with , became two great, different meals. I told Lisa on Twitter and guess who saw my tweet?
@breadandputter @FC_Lisa Fresh ham? I KNOW that recipe! So glad you liked it. We may have it on T-giving. @bruceweinstein @finecooking—
Mark Scarbrough (@markscarbrough) November 09, 2010
Mark Scarbrough, one of the authors of the article! What a fun, small little world Twitter has made. I think I like this world quite a bit, actually.
I don’t even like ham and I want this! Sign me up. Gotta go find a fresh ham now…
If you like a good pork roast, you will like this!
I can’t believe you got your ham from the very place recommended in the article! That’s so cool. Even after writing a whole book on ham, I’m still not bored with the stuff. Just had another on Saturday night with friends. Thanks for such a great post. I’m glad the recipes worked out for you. Such a treat! (And yes, what a small world Twitter hath made.)
Thanks for stopping by, Mark, and thanks for the great recipes! 8 O’Clock Ranch has been great with the CSA. I love opening up the box every month to see what we got. It’s like Christmas!
I will pretend The Peche did not say he does not j’adore ham. But at least this recipe got him interested. Love that you got props from the author of the recipe.
I know… Peshy marches to the beat of his own drum.
Isn’t it cool? I love the internets sometimes!
I agree with you that the leftovers are even better than the original dish, in this case (if anything can be better than slow-roasted pig)!
I only wish I had a bigger ham so I could have tried the other two leftover recipes – they all sounded great!
I don’t think I even knew that fresh ham existed! Pretty cool about the author seeing your tweet – and leaving you a comment! Did it taste like a pork roast more than ham?
How did you add those cool twitter boxes to your post?
Yes, definitely more like a pork roast than ham.
New WordPress feature! You go to the tweet you want to feature and click on the date – that brings you to the URL for that specific tweet. Then you just copy & paste the URL into a single line by itself in your post, and do it on the HTML tab, not the Visual tab.
Nice topic i think the same about it.