Steve, I found instructions for Tasso in "Charcuterie" a good book with recipes for smoked/cured meats and sausages, co-written by an award winning Michigan Chef, Brian Polcyn. It's a great book, BTW. The instructions say: "Tasso ham is a cajun preparation of pork shoulder and one of the easiest hams to cure. The shoulder is sliced into slabs, quickly cured, heavily spiced and then smoked. The hot and savory spices are seasonings prominent along the Louisiana bayou, complex flavors brought there by the French Canadian settlers more than three hundred years ago. Shoulder is a tough cut and so needs long, gentle cooking." So there you go, slabs of shoulder! Annie

By uncooked ham do you mean a fresh ham, which looks like a roast of pork? Fresh meat rather than smoked or cured? I love a fresh ham roast , especially the cracklins. This is a tried and true recipe. One I have been making for almost 20 years. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Pork - Fresh Ham With Cracklings And Pan Gravy ============================================== Adapted from a Gourmet Recipe 1 fresh ham (shank end leg of pork) olive for rubbing the ham 1 tablespoon coarse salt 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried sage 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon dry mustard 12 ounces beer (not dark) For the gravy 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups chicken broth 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard 1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried sage 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled salt and pepper to taste . With a small sharp knife prick the ham skin all over, make 4 parallel 1/2-inch-deep incisions through the skin the entire length of the ham, and rub the ham lightly with the oil. In a small bowl rub together the coarse salt, the thyme, the sage, the pepper, and the mustard and rub the mixture over the entire surface of the ham. Put the ham on a roasting rack set in a roasting pan and put the pan in a preheated 500F. oven. Reduce the temperature immediately to 375 °F and roast the ham for 1 hour. Pour half the beer over the ham, roast the ham for 30 minutes more, and pour the remaining beer over the ham. Roast the ham until a meat thermometer registers 170°F.,(the amount of time will depend on the size of the roast) and let it cool on the rack in the pan for 15 minutes. Pull off the brown crisp skin, leaving the layer of fat on the ham, with scissors cut the skin into small pieces, and arrange the cracklings in one layer in a baking pan. Sprinkle the cracklings with salt and bake them in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until they are crisp and browned. Transfer the cracklings to paper towels and let them drain. Cut the remaining fat from the ham, slice the meat thinly across the grain, and arrange it on a platter. Keep the ham warm, covered. Skim off the fat from the juices in the roasting pan, add 1 cup broth and deglaze the pan over moderate heat, scraping up the brown bits. Transfer the liquid to a saucepan. In a small bowl whisk together the flour and 1/4 cup of the broth until the flour is dissolved and whisk the mixture into the deglazing liquid with the remaining 3/4 cup broth, the mustard, the sage, the thyme, and pepper to taste, and simmer the gravy, whisking, for 5 minutes. Garnish the ham with the cracklings and the watercress sprigs and serve it with the gravy. Serves 8 with leftovers. Gourmet March 1990

As to cooking turkey so its not dry, when cooking a turkey bird in the oven I usually use a Reynolds Oven Bag in an appropriate size for the bird. One time use, seems to cook more quickly than standard roasting, easy cleanup, so tender and juicy that it falls off the bone (both white and dark meat), resulting turkey juices easy to contain and use for gravy or whatever. The only slight disadvantage I've found is that if you're more interested in nicely roasted and crispy skin rather than a nice tender and tasty bird, you'll likely be disappointed. To that end, we cook turkey to eat, not to look at and take pictures of so no problem there. Too, the cooking bag probably won't work worth a flip if you usually stuff the bird with anything but the typical seasonings (onion, celery, half an orange, salt/pepper, fresh sage, etc.). Traditional cooking method? Probably not but once you try it, you'll make it one of your go-to methods.

I've never noticed a fat thing with using a ham bone in soup... but I do like to heat up a big marrow bone like that to get it release it's goodness into the water. It's not only what might be on the outside of the bone- it's also giving time to unlock what's in the bone and the sometimes not so yum rendered with simmering a bone. It might also be the split peas I use- mostly calling for an hour or so of cooking. Not enough time for the bone to give it's best. But a little bit of pre simmer to let the bone bloom.. mmm.