The Gospel of Ham

The Gospel of Ham - According to My Mom

Ham and Scalloped Potatoes. Forgot to take a picture
before digging in, so here is one from after.

My mother *swears* that ham can't go bad. I'm not sure about that, I'll be honest. But I will also admit I've never seen it happen. I've seen them dry up due to lack of proper covering. But go bad? Not so far. She says that even if it gets mold on it, you can just wash it off and it's good. Ewww.

That I will not be doing. Ever. 

Other tidbits of Ham Wisdom:

1. Buy ham with the bone in. It has better flavor (I have found this to be true.)

2. The way to cook ham? Put it in a roasting pan, covered well, and cook it until it "changes texture". If you've ever had ham this way, you understand what that means. Yes, it's yummy.

3. Ham bones are what you make bean soup out of. This one - all Mom. I've seen her do it, and her bean soup is a frequent request when she visits. But yeah... even knowing her "secret" ingredient, this isn't something I've mastered. 



Ham is pretty dang versatile, however. I had a ham in my freezer and a couple of weeks ago, I was in the mood. So I brought that baby out and cooked it, ate it with sweet potatoes and homemade applesauce.  (what else? ha ha).

But that left a pretty big hunk o' ham left. I've eaten it on salads, put it on sandwiches, mixed it in my frambled eggs with cheese. Tonight - ham and scalloped potatoes! They were De-lish! I actually modified what my mom usually does to them, and I think, well... they might have turned out better. Yikes! I know, it's hard to say it, but it may be true in this *one* case.

Here's another picture of it if you didn't notice the one up top, hehe:








And cooked up a storm today! Will post more of that tomorrow.

:)