Ham Yep Ham

Ham is one is one of those foods I think you either like or you don't. I happen to be one of those people that likes ham. I don't often say that or that I really have a soft spot for many cured pork (?dishes isn't the word) foods (?better). I mean I was raised by an Italian father. I'm sure somewhere in the family crest it must say cured pork Rules :c) But in this ever so health conscious world we have all, at least publicly pronounce cured pork as evil, vile, deliciou... ah despicable food to put in our bodies.

When we lived in the states that was one hard practice for me!! I like to have baked ham once in awhile and then a huge pot of beans and ham with left over numies on the bone :c) Heck I could completely identify with Jimmie Derante's habit of eating 5 pieces of bacon everyday for breakfast. When it came to really good prosciutto there was no holding back

As far as uncured pork I could live without that but cured now that is a horse of a different color.

One of the things we quickly learned when we moved to Mexico is "There ain't no cured meats" Yep cured meats are imported. No sausage, pepperoni, salami, ham, bacon, prosciutto, sarano and whatever else I have left out.

Now to me it seems like it would be a shoe in here. Pigs/Pork is raised everywhere. Every village has pigs running around they are everywhere you look. Heck there are dishes that use the whole head. :c( There are all kinds of pork dishes but alas no cured pork ones. It's such a mystery to me, one I'm sure if I wait long enough some grad student will do their thesis on :c)

Just for the foreign population here in Mazatlan SAM's will provide for sale a limited amount of spiral cut hams :c) at only this time of the year. No I don't know how many but I do know that if you see them you better be buying then cuz it's not going to be to long before the word gets around.

SO the other day we made the dreaded trip to SAM's for the gihugest bags of dog food and the millennium packs of paper towels and TP. I told LW I was just going to wander over to the cheese and meat section to see what they had for cheese. Oh man cheese don't get me going on that, it's another whole story!! No cheese worth sacrificing our first born for, BUT there in the cold case was the once a year, always at Christmas, small allotment of...yes be still my heat HAM !!! :c) I looked at the price coughed $270.99 (pesos) that's with the current exchange that's $24ish US for 8 lbs. Remember this is bone in shoulder cut not a whole lot of meat. But in a money is no issue manner I put one in the cart.

Today LW and I decided is Ham dinner day. Now LW can really take or leave ham so the excitement is really for me. Ham goes in the cast iron dutch oven, light the oven, set temp, put ham in oven to cook at. Well the instructions say 275 degrees for 12 min. per lb or 2 hours. Cool huh but somewhere in the back of my memory there was something about the ham dinner last year I needed to remember but couldn't :c(

Okay so here's the thing ovens are not part of the traditional Mexican kitchen. Not to cook meats or foods in anyway. Modern stoves come with ovens cuz that's the way they make them. You know for those cold countries where cooking in ovens is done. :c) Here those ovens are used to store your large pots and pans in :c) SO because ovens aren't a necessity the Mexican brand stoves don't have temperature regulators. On the oven nob there are three numbers 1 2 3 you simply guess what the corresponding temp is to the number :c) No problem I'll just use an oven thermometer... nope they don't sell them here. I had my sister send me one for a Christmas present. Okay remember no regulators soooooooo how do you keep the temp at say 325 ( cuz it really doesn't matter what number you set the knob at the darn thing keeps on heating higher)!! For that you use the "wooden spoon" temp regulating method. Huh? Take your wooden spoon and prop the door open at the proper width to maintain the oven at 275 degrees. :c)

Okay back to the ham. One hour and 30 minutes later ham is cooked all the way to the bone. Good news too. Only the top 1/6th inch is jerky this year :c) HA NOW I REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS I was suppose to remember from last year shorten the cooking time!!! Hey LW can you please help me remember that next year????????

Small disclaimer this is not our ham. Our ham refused to pose for pictures after she got a look at herself in the oven window!! :c) And there is no way you could find fresh asparagus here :c(

I'm off to the refrigerator to have a little bit of our once a year evil, despicable but ever so delicious ham. :c) Have a wonderful day or evening in Bloglandia depending on where you are :c)