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My mother made the best baked ham. Her glaze was
always simple but perfect. We loved every phase of the ham: right out of
the oven beautiful thick slices with traditional accompaniments of
spiced and sweetened apples baked along with the ham, mashed potatoes
with melting butter pats, green beans with baby pearl onions; then the
welcome fried ham to make our breakfast eggs even better. If the ham was
big enough we could make ham sandwiches for lunch and still use some
diced chunks to enhance a big pot of pintos served with cornbread, crisp
green onions, thick slices of tomatoes and strips of bell pepper. If we
were really lucky, there would be enough left for MomMay to carve the
meat carefully away from the bone and make her fabulous Ham Salad!
The bone itself, of course, would be boiled in a pot of water to make
bone broth. This treasure would be poured into a narrow pitcher or jar
and placed in the freezer or fridge until the fat congealed on top.
Before storing, the congealed fat cap should be discarded. Use this
broth to enrich any number of soups, sauces, or to add to stock for
chowder.
MomMay's Ham Salad Spread
INGREDIENTS:
To prepare Ground ham:
- * Lean chunks of ham carved from the bone
- * 1 or 2 slices of white bread
- * 1 brick (about 8 oz) Cheddar cheese
- * 4 or 5 sweet fingerling gherkins (we'll use a tad of that sweet pickle juice in the spicy spread, see below)
- * 1 small sweet white onion, diced
To prepare Spicy Spread:
- * 2 tablespoons Miracle Whip
- * 1 teaspoon French's yellow mustard
- * Dash black pepper
- * About 1 teaspoon sweet pickle juice (can substitute apple cider vinegar)
- * Dash fresh lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Mother used a hand grinder that attached to the cabinet top to grind lean chunks of her leftover baked ham (delicious!). A big bowl would be placed to catch all the ground ingredients.
2. To clear the last of the ham, put through a slice of bread.
3. (For a special treat) grind a brick of cheddar cheese.
4. Grind another slice of bread to clear the cheese from the implement.
5. Feed the sweet gherkins along with the wedges of sweet Vidalia or Bermuda onion through the grinder.
6. Into the bowl add Miracle Whip, a dash of pepper, a little bit of yellow French's mustard. Occasionally MomMay would squeeze in lemon juice or pickle juice or apple cider vinegar to make the ham salad spread the right consistency.
7. The mixture should be spread on lightly buttered white bread before laying all the slices on a big cookie sheet to brown under the broiler.
8. Serve just melty with the bread lightly toasted.
Fantastic served with a nice garden salad and a pitcher of iced sweet tea or lemonade.
Bon appetit ~!
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