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For those of you that butcher, or buy, a pig

10 years ago

every year, what cuts can I request in place of the "fresh ham"
I just don't like those things, no matter what I do to them, and I get four of them every time we order a pig.

Comments (5)

annie1992
10 years ago
OK, since we have such a "regional" thing about names, I'm going to ask whether this is the traditional ham, i.e. the back leg/butt of the pig, or is it the picnic, i.e. the front shoulder?

Amanda gets both cuts (2 hams and 2 picnics) smoked and cut in half, because they like smoked pork.

If you are talking about the picnic cuts, they make a pretty decent pork steak. The actual ham makes a relatively lean steak, so that would not be my first choice, I usually have the hams smoked and then cut into "ham steaks", which the kids like for breakfast or for scalloped potatoes.

So, your choices are somewhat limited here. You can take it as a fresh ham, you can have it cut into "steaks", you can have it cubed for use in chili and stew, or you can have it ground for sausage or for ground pork to use in meatloaf, etc.

Or find someone that will swap you for something you do like, even up for venison or salmon, if you know a hunter/fisherman.

I'm going to get pigs processed next week, hopefully, and any cuts I really don't like I have ground. Hams get smoked but I usually end up giving those to the kids for dinners because they love 'em.

Annie
angelaid
Original Author
10 years ago
Have no idea what part of the pig it came from. They are just marked "Fresh Ham". They look similar to the picture, but twice as thick. They are not smoked.
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annie1992
10 years ago
angelaid, that looks like a picnic to me, a shoulder cut, which is more fatty than the hind leg/ham portion. I can't guarantee that, but it's not the right shape for the hind leg, and doesn't appear to have the round bone that a slice of the back leg would have.

I usually have that cut into pork steaks, although Elery likes to put it into the smoker for pulled pork, the fatty streaks and collagen break down into a moist finished product. I like the America's Test Kitchen recipe for pork steaks done on the grill in a pan with a tomato based sauce, so we're going to have to compromise. (grin)

And, as I said, if all else fails, it gets ground. I never get the ground pork seasoned, I can season it as I wish, making Italian sausage or breakfast sausage or whatever, or I can put it into a sauce, make sausage gravy, well....you know.

Annie
angelaid
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you Annie!
annie1992
10 years ago
You are welcome, and I hope you are enjoying the rest of the pork. I was reminded by Elery that the old Italian grandmothers he knew when he was a kid would put a pork roast into the "Sunday Gravy", so that might be a good use too.

Annie

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