Or any other supermarket.
I refer to a complete cured ham leg on sale for £59.
The shank was unbroken and included the shin and trotter, making the whole thing nearly a yard long.
It was shrink-wrapped in thick plastic and had a sell by date of November, this year.
What would one do with such a joint?
Eat it is the obvious answer, but you'd have be awfully fond of ham sarnies, unless there are other ways to have the meat.
Supermarket sightings of other unusual foodstuffs also welcome.
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...Barbeques..?...
As it's 'cured' I take that to mean it's already cooked.
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"Cured" is most certainly not the same as "cooked".
Curing is a process intended to preserve meat etc and involves the addition to it of one or more of the following substances: salt, sugar, nitrates or nitrites. The treated meat may be fit for consumption, or it may require cooking.
Did it say "Ready to eat" on the packaging? (Unlikely, with a big joint, I'd have thought.)
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 20 Jun 11 at 20:05
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>> As it's 'cured' I take that to mean it's already cooked.>>
What had it been suffering from? ..:-)
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>> What had it been suffering from? ..:-)
Depression...
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...Depression...
I'd be depressed if someone chopped my leg off and turned it into a joint of meat.
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>>I'd be depressed if someone chopped my leg off and turned it into a joint.>>
More and more people are, unfortunately, smoking a joint these days...:-(
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>> More and more people are, unfortunately, smoking a joint these days...:-(
>>
Which you can get on the state in New Scotland:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13845963
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"I refer to a complete cured ham leg on sale for £59."
I saw something similar in our local supermarket a few months ago. I just can't pull what it was or it's price from the depths of my brain but I think it was a large portion of a small pig and well into the hundred/hundreds of quid bracket.
There were three of them in large, knackered old boxes and what I do remember was they had been curing since 1973 - the year my wife was born. I couldn't believe anyone would be interested but they were gone in a day or two.
My wife has been hanging sausage-type things from the pan rack above the oven for a few years - wrapped in kitchen roll. Every know and then, she unwraps one and takes a bite. Makes me gag.
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SWMBO used to like tongue, until forty years ago.
A whole one appeared on the marble slab inside the butcher's shop window. It wasn't put in the 'fridge overnight. Over a couple of months we watched it turn a sort of green colour as it shrivelled.
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>> SWMBO used to like tongue, until forty years ago.
>>
Eh?
;-)
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...My wife has been hanging sausage-type things...make me gag...
Now you know how she feels.
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Sounds like a Spanish Jamon Serrano: a dry, air cured ham, not too dissimilar from Parma ham.
The shops in Spain also sell a "jamoniere" which holds the ham in a position in which VERY thin slices are carved for serving as a tapa.
"Jamon Serrano Pata Negra" is the top quality of this type of ham. It is bred from free range acorn- fed, black-foot pigs and a really fine, well matured example can be upwards of 400 euros.
It is very often bought by a family at Christmas, as the cost can then be shared by all the family members.
Goes well with with Manchego Cheese and is routinely offered as a starter at traditional Spanish Restaurants.
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I remember seeing a massage device in the Lidl leaflet a few years back with a rather mature lady rubbing her back with it. There was no doubt that this device had previously been sold in Ann Summers for a somewhat different use
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Serrano is excellent. I prefer it to Parma ham. It's a bit sweeter.
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Roger's pic very close to what the joint looked like, so his Parma/Serrano call is a good one.
I like Parma, although rarely have it, partly because it's expensive compared to other cooked ham.
Presumably, all you can do with the big joint is slice it thinly and eat it.
Might be a bit much for one.
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I deliberated long and hard about splashing out on one of these, but didn't in the end. Having had jamon serrano on hols in Spain it is lovely if you like a nice cured pork product and it's certainly not cheap. However, I decided that I didn't really have anywhere to keep it for the several months it would have taken us to work our way through it. They may even have one or two left in my local branch. If the price came down to get rid of them I'd be tempted.
We did get quite a large chunk of Parma ham from Lidl a little while back - about £13 worth - which lasted us about 6 weeks. Coincided well with the asparagus season as grilled asparagus goes very well with some nice ham, toasted pine nuts, shavings of Parmesan and concentrated balsamic vingar.
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>>bit.ly/jpBVJM
Como esta?<<
Gracias Senor, it reminds me of home = Continente + Alcampo.
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Alcampo, Marbella was our favourite supermarket by a country mile oops - kilometre.
Even though it is French owned, like Carrefour the choice & quality beat other places such as Dia% (horrible - think five places under the worst Aldi/ LIDL/Netto), Supersol (expensive & poor quality), Mercadona (not too bad really).
Strangely ALDI & LIDL in Spain are very down-market in choice,( unlike in the UK), quality and customer service, with ALDI being particularly slap-happy in presentation, service & general scruffiness.
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I knew I'd hit the bottom of the barrel in my choice of holiday destination when I arrived in Grand Canaria and the airport trollies had Netto plastered all over them.
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>>Alcampo, Marbella was our favourite supermarket by a country mile oops - kilometre.<<
I actually hate supermarkets Roge, haven't been in one for nigh-on 15 years now (bit Clausto, maybe)
But, I used to actually enjoy going to Alcampo & Continente in Tenerife :)
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Hams this size but maybe not this quality, feature in the Sunday broadsheets in the run up to Christmas. I recall the even a 1/2 ham is close to £100. As people ask - what one going to with a 10lb ham unless there a dozen of you??!!
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There used to be permanent queues for carved to order ham off the bone from a couple of local shops back in the 90's. Is this still available elsewhere?
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Properly cured hams last a LONG time!
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My mother swears that the original version of cured ham like this is called "Carmarthen Ham". The technique was taken from there to Europe and became Serrano, Parma, and all the other European varieties.
No idea if that's true.
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As Roger says, Serrano and Parma ham keep for ages. The whole point about ham is that it keeps without having to be refrigerated. I imagine that's why it was developed.
You don't have to scoff the lot inside a week. Unless of course it's that stuff in packets and too-thin slices from the supermarket, whose weight has been increased and quality ruined by the universal, but deeply criminal in my opinion, food-giant technique of water injection.
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Do people still eat ham shanks?Father in law used to love them when he was still alive .
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>>Do people still eat ham shanks?Father in law used to love them when he was still alive<<
I've eaten pigs feet before now - trotters!
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...F.U.N.E.M.?...
Yes, Lidl have big ham.
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...M.N.X.?...
Plenty ham and eggs.
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Tee hee... but Iffy had brought me up to speed.
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Beware the dreaded phrase "Shaped and formed from prime cuts" Scrap meat blasted off the carcase with water jets and then pressed in wet pink flannel shapes and taste. I had a row in M&S some years ago over a packet of ham which said "Not more than 5% added water" I said I wasn't interested in buying water at the price of ham and got a very puzzled look from some teenage customer adviser who had probably never heard of ham on or off the bone!
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I often wonder why people buy meat from supermarkets. What's wrong with buying from a local, well established butcher? Many obtain their meat within a twenty mile radius, it doesn't cost any more, and it tastes as meat should taste.
So I'm told.
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We had some bacon tonight - 4 rashers in total. I guess there must have been 2 tablespoonsful of water sweated off before they actually started to fry.
It wasn't "basics" stuff either.
I too, object to paying bacon prices for salty water.
Last edited by: Roger on Tue 21 Jun 11 at 19:58
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>>I often wonder why people buy meat from supermarkets<<
I don't really eat meat, although I'll have a beef pasty at the weekend, we've started buying our chicken from a local butcher, who funnily enough, we sold a property to 3 houses ago.
I normally only buy organic stuff, but Mr butchers Cornish free-range chicken is very good.
My bacon (not really meat, is it) comes from Tesco, and its their Case & Sons traditional Wiltshire cure stuff but - even that has got H2O in it innit.
Meat free - that's me :)
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>> I don't really eat meat, although I'll have a beef pasty at the weekend
>> Meat free - that's me :)
tinyurl.com/6drj8bd
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>>tinyurl.com/6drj8bd<<
Now that's a pasty :) ... I've tried many pasties in the 15 years we've lived here, but the ones we get from the butcher are about the best I've tried - some pasties, because of the lard used, give me art burn, I've even made my own at one time, experimenting with lard, Cookeen, and even olive oil believe it or not, people that make Cornish pasties on a regular basis (most Cornish wives) have my wholehearted respect b'cos they are a lot of faffing about to make.
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Actually Meldrew what you think of as traditional English ham is produced by the Wiltshire cure which is a wet cure method in which the meat is left in a brine solution and s0 absorbs a certain amount of water. THis is contrast to the dry cured methods discussed in the thread.
Cheap ham often has excessive amount of water added but 5% is a reasonable amount to produce the traditional cure so the puzzlement of the customer advisor to your tirade was perhaps justified
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No one expects to see that in Lidl,
Their secret weapon is low prices...........
Sorry,
.
.
Their two secret weapons are low prices, strange brands you have never heard of before and....
Sorry,
Their three secret weapons are low prices, strange brands you have never heard of before and a fanatical devotion to bringing you special offers that you never knew you wanted......
Apologies to Mssrs. M Python & Co.
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UK ALDI & LIDL are vastly superior in every respect from their Spanish operations.
Oh - and our local ALDI stock Black Sheep Ale - that's got to be in their favour!
Last edited by: Roger on Tue 21 Jun 11 at 20:45
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Pork pies, along with beef and others, bought from specialist butchers and other outlets in Yorkshire, particularly Skipton and Harrogate, are famous the world over.
You can order them on-line from such outlets as:
www.stanforthbutchers.co.uk/
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I didn't expect to see that in Lidl - Stuartli
