A few thoughts and memories on ham

 A reprise of an old column about ham. My ham to cook on Easter Sunday is in my fridge, waiting!

 a previous Easter ham prepared in my kitchen.

My idea of a traditional Easter dinner includes ham as the centerpiece of the meal.  It’s a long standing tradition in my family although today many folks choose other options, everything from turkey to barbecue.  I know in some areas lamb has long been a popular choice for Easter but I can’t imagine serving anything but ham.  I’ve already purchased a bone in half ham for next Sunday to avoid the rush and I can’t wait to cook it the old-fashioned way.
    True hams – as in the joint from a pig – have a bone.  Whole hams are very large and we most often buy a half ham.  The bone can be used to season a delicious pot of beans at another meal as well.  While I don’t know the exact date (and couldn’t narrow it down with research) that boneless hams were first marketed, I know that in the mid to late 1960’s, my Pop got on his soapbox about them.  I’m not talking about canned hams or even small “picnic” hams because I think both have existed in various forms for a long time, maybe even a century or more.  I’m talking about the boneless hams, often around four or five pounds, with no bone and that slice with ease.
    Some are delicious, almost as tasty as what I consider “real” ham.  Since they’re made from actual hams with the meat removed from the bone and then formed into the convenient loaf shape, they are made from ham.  Some manufacturers use whole pieces of ham, others create a product with ground ham.  I’m not very fond of those.  The end result is very soft and the flavor has come a long way from the rich taste of a smoked or cured traditional ham.
    My Pop’s concern wasn’t just taste, however.  He worried that younger generations wouldn’t know what a true ham looked or tasted like.  In his lifetime, as the world and technology moved forward, he saw many marvelous improvements and other changes not as tasty.   You may have heard the expression – “the best thing since sliced bread”.  Well, at one time, up into at least the 1940’s, bread was sold unsliced.  And, although it’s long before my time, it’s my understanding that along with slicing and packaging the loaves, the recipes changed to provide bread with a longer shelf life.  I know my family much prefers when I bake homemade bread than the store variety but in the interest of time, being practical, we do of course eat our share of “store bread” in a plastic wrapper.  We also buy some of the bakery versions when I lack time to back.  Pop knew what homemade bread and early commercial bakery bread had been.  He also knew biscuits before they came shaped and pressed into a tube.
    He would probably have had a similar issue with boneless chicken.  In Pop’s lifetime, chicken was roasted whole, stewed and then boned to add to soup, dumplings, or another dish, or cut into pieces, then fried to a crispy brown.  Kids in my own childhood wouldn’t have known what a chicken tender was – we were routinely served drumsticks.  That piece was meant to be easier for little hands to wrap around and I remember when I became old enough to ask for a thigh, breast, or wing piece.
    Chicken tenders and nuggets have become so popular that some years ago, I had family members over for fried chicken and one nephew stared at the pieces on his plate with a combination of shock and awe.  He leaned over and whispered, “Dad, this chicken has bones.”  Once over his initial surprise, he soon learned chicken with bones also tastes great. 
    If I’ve accomplished nothing else (and I hope that I have), my children can recognize a traditional ham.  They know chicken has bones, although they’ve enjoyed their share of boneless chicken products.  However, they prefer me to make my own tenders or nuggets with my own coating over the freezer case variety whenever possible.
    Convenience foods are often handy for the home cook but on Easter Sunday, we’ll have our ham and a little lesson about where the food on our table comes from to reach it.
    Happy Easter to all as we join in celebrating a risen Lord!