Hammy Holidays, Plus A Snake River Farms Giveaway
A bone-in ham to put all others to shame. From Snake River Farms.
I often keep old Christmas cards, and sometimes the gently-used ribbons and bows, too.
But one thing I make a point never to discard is something all together different.
Bones.
From the Thanksgiving turkey. From the Christmas ham.
They are always wrapped carefully with aluminum foil, then tucked inside a heavy-duty plastic bag in a safe place in my freezer.
Until January.
That’s when I take them out for their intended purpose, one that I look forward to every year after the holiday season.
It’s makes me feel as if my mother is still with me and enjoying this time-honored ritual together as we did for so many years, but of course as is always the case, not nearly enough in the end.
I make her rice porridge, just as she used to do for her family. Yes, the nourishing, comforting, restorative Chinese congee also known as jook that would take her hours to make.
Those bones go into a large stockpot with broth and water to simmer, before rice is added. It’s all cooked slowly, bubbling away gently, until the starch releases, thickening the broth, and breaking down the grains until rice and soup become one.
On a winter evening, there’s nothing better.
Oh, sure, it can be made at other times of the year, too.
But there’s something about using the remains of the holiday feasts that gives it another distinctive dimension. It’s the taste of one year — in all its glorious ups and downs and memories — stirred together seamlessly into the new year full of all the possibilities to come. How can any spoonful be more delicious than that?
Well, this year it just might, because the kind folks at Snake River Farms sent me a sample of their Kurobuta whole bone-in ham ($179) that’s made from 100 percent purebred Berkshire pork raised without hormones. This massive cut weighs in at 14 to 18 pounds.
It squirts juice when you cut into it.
Hammy goodness.
Smoked over hardwood chips, it is smoky, porky sweet, rich in flavor, and bursting with juice. There’s a luscious fat cap around it, too, that gets crispy on the edges. From the very first bite, you know this is ham on a whole ‘nother level.
It’s shipped frozen, so you do have to allow for it to defrost — about a week in the fridge, or you can help it along by submerging it repeatedly in cold water baths until it isn’t iceberg-like anymore.
My husband cooked it in his Big Green Egg without any other adornment. Sure, you can brush it with a glaze, but it really needs nothing else to let its porcine goodness shine.
It’s enough for many — many— meals. And after we were done, we carefully wrapped up that big ham bone for the precious ritual that’s yet to come.
CONTEST: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a free Snake River Farms Kurobuta whole bone-in ham for the holidays.
Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be taken through midnight PST Dec. 12. The winner will be announced Dec. 14
How to win?
Just tell me what you make a point to save during the holidays — and why. You’ve already read mine. Now, I want to hear yours. Best answer wins.
More: My Recipe For Jook
Of course I make a very rich turkey stock after Thanksgiving and use it slowly right through Christmas.
I also have continued a very old family tradition by making an enormous batch of fruit cake. Don’t laugh! It’s much different than the one that gets passed around from year to year in a round tin! It makes about 12 loaf cakes. They go in the freezer until the cold snowy days of winter. There is nothing like a slice with a hot, steaming cup of tea.
I save “room” because there always something else coming.
This may not be your typical recipe or special ingredient that I save during the holidays..but
when i read the prompt, I immediately thought of photos. I always make it a point to remember to take pictures with my family, maybe its a part of me growing older and my parents not getting any younger, pictures with them have become of an importance to me.. I collect pictures and photos taken over the years and as I glance back at them, I chuckle at how much my younger sister has grown or how silly my dad is (due to the help of holiday drinking). We always take pictures next to our Christmas tree and every year the tree looks different (in a good way). You can see the evolution of our picture leading up to the opening of christmas gifts, capturing smiles, squeals and shocks. It’s neat to see which uncles, aunts, cousins and additions to the family show up as the years progress. And for that reason, my camera is always around.
Our favorite thing to do is to save the holiday cards over the years that have family pics or pictures of kids. We’ve saved these cards over the last 30 years and it’s fun to pull out the older cards and see the history of the pictures side by side. Even with facebook, the ability to compare the faces – some of the kids are now married with their own kids – it really wonderful. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
What a fun contest, FoodGal!
For a Gujarati American family, the holiday season starts early — from Diwali through Thanksgiving and on to Christmas and New Year’s, we usually have a stream of visitors. Every meal has to be served with fresh chapatis (rotlis), but it’s almost impossible to estimate the exact number needed; some people might eat two, others three or even four, and it would be terrible to run out. It’s equally terrible to serve day-old chapatis to guests, although they’re perfectly edible. So what we do is collect them in a Ziploc bag and stash them in the fridge. When we have enough and feel like a “light” cooking meal, we make Vaghareli Rotli — the ultimate comfort food. Tear them up into pieces, add fresh green masala (which is a mix of turmeric, garlic, ginger and chili peppers), and fry it all up in a pan with mustard seeds, yogurt, and cilantro. I use the recipe from my mom’s cookbook, The Gujarati Kitchen. The texture is something like a flaky, savory bread pudding, served up hot with a tamarind-date chutney — the ultimate homey comfort food, warm and spicy and perfect for a casual lunch at home.
We do a lot of BBQ for friends this time of year and we save the trimmings from just about everything! Brisket trimmings and short ribs make a great burger meat. Beefy and SO juicy. Leftover brisket gets snagged by wife and turned into pierogi filling. Pork butt and spare rib trimmings get turned into sausage or get added to meat loaf mix. If we do a rib roast we cut off the bones and male some of the best stock for au jus.
as cheesy as it may be, i’ve been keeping the markers from our choose-and-cut christmas trees for the past three years (which is how long my fiance and i have been choosing and cutting together!). they each say our name, the farm from which the tree came, and how tall the tree was, and i think it’ll be fun to look back through and remember each trip! 🙂
Of course bones of all types are saved for stock. And even stuff like shrimp or lobster shells can be saved for a great stock. BTW, for the best shrimp and grits ever make a stock out of the shrimp shells and use that liquid to cook the grits.
Anyway, on to the “what do you save” question… I make sure to always save a piece of apple pie to throw in the blender with some ice cream, cider, and even some apple liquor like AppleJack or Calvados for an awesome apple pie milkshake. Delicious and a great holiday treat for after the kids are in bed.
LOL..I have always reused, kept, recycled…so many things…Christmas cards…lol…actually all cards, foil, bows, boxes….all veggie/meat leftovers that I have not used up…go in the freezer..and then I make a big pot of soup….dried up bread gets cubed up & frozen for bread crumbs or dressing…and on & on…lol
Well let’s see-you already said bones-the one thing that my family fights over-the cherished turkey carcass, and the bone from the sweet glazed ham my mom always gets.
For the last 10 years there is also something we now save on purpose that started as a result of just using up leftovers. And come on, don’t some of the best things come out of “necessity! When my grandpa was alive, he his turkeys were legendary-somehow his skin was perfectly golden and crispy, the meat succulent and tender. The crowning jewel to me was his rice stuffing. Made with our ever present Japanese rice, hit was rich with sausage, veggies, and sticky goodness reminiscent to me of my favorite Chinese sticky rice. This would be crammed into one end of the turkey, and the other side with (in my opinion) the lowly but required bread stuffing. We would all fight for a scoop of the rice stuffing, leaving a fairly large portion of the bread stuffing.
The bread stuffing would be taken as leftovers and usually sat sadly in the fridge until either my dad ate it or it was thrown away. My mom, who would usually win the battle for the turkey bones one year decided to use some of the stock to throw the leftover stuffing in. Extremely skeptical to try the resulting soup, I gingerly took my first spoonful and have never looked back!
The bread was magically transformed into pillows of magical deliciousness, the entire soup warming and comforting.
Now that grandpa is gone the stuffing tradition has passed on to me, and my version combines the rice and bread. Technically now dressing since we don’t stuff the bird, I always make way more than we will eat and make sure to squirrel enough to make a big pot of stuffing soup.
Last year I decided to share our wonderful discovery with the rest of the family and in the spirit of Christmas, now I share it with you!
There is nothing better than split pea soup made with the ham shank leftover from your holiday meal!
I’m a Hunter and throughout the season I save the choice cuts from Venison and Bear and also my feathered friends the Duck, Geese, Pheasant, Grouse and Turkey……
As a seasonal gift, I make Sausages from all this meats to give to my closest friends and , of course, my Family.
The selection consists of Summer Sausages of Venison and Geese, Spiced Duck and Pheasant, Breakfast Sausages of Bear and Turkey and my favorite….Jalapeno and Cheese Grouse Sausages.
I make a point during the hectic holidays to save time to really enjoy the grandkids company, and to truly thank the Lord for the Blessings in my life. This great ham would add to both!
I save ribbons, one of the things I like to collect. Some are so special and when I reuse the I have the memory of where it came from and create a new memory for someone else.
That looks delicious. How do you know when the ham is done? Did they have cooking instructions? Were you primarily just warming it up? Something I save during the holidays is something you suggested awhile back! I always save a bag of cranberries so that I can use them during the year for baked goods or if I want to do an early cranberry recipe testing. It’s such a great tip! 😉
Ben: Yes, the ham is already cooked — cured and smoked. You are just heating it. But because it is huge, it will take awhile. You want to get it to an internal temperature of 140 degrees, which will take about 4 to 5 hours, depending upon if you cook it in the oven or outside in a covered grill.
I save all of the photos and Holiday cards from friends and family and make little cut outs of them to hang in the tree! Every year is like a whole new holiday seeing all of the ornaments with the evolving and growing kids and family photos… So fun!
I save Christmas cards and make gift tags for presents for the next Christmas.
Like you, I save bones. For Thanksgiving, I always make turkey soup with the leftovers. I always say it’s in honor of my grandfather because he was always a soup maker, but the truth is that I can’t stand to throw any part of the meal away. I want it to keep giving long past the original meal. Same goes the ham bone at Christmas. I make split pea soup for my wife and my dad because they both love it. Oh, and I always save ribbons from Christmas gifts. They make great gifts the next time around–a habit I picked up from my grandmother–a product of the Great Depression.
I make sure to always save copies of any new recipes I try, just in case we really like them it would be a shame not to be able to find the same recipe again next time!
I save the ham bone to make ham and bean soup. I repurpose milk carton and egg carton to use for vegetable seed starter for the spring time. I use the newspaper as wrapping paper and also to clean my windows at home.
Get some turkeys just after thankgiving to smoke up for Christmas and biggest ham I can find. Ham works great for anytime for biscuits, sandwiches, soup and very versatile leftovers. Take the skin\fat edge and crisp it up as pig candy with some nuts.
I save the stock that I make from roasting wings and backs before Thanksgiving. It gets frozen into cubes to be used in sauces, jook, stir-fries, soups.
I save scrapings of vegetables to enrich the next vegetable or chicken stock.
I save recipes, so many recipes, I see and want to tweak or try later. (Like your pumpkin rolls and Mom’s Chow Mein…)
and this year, I’ll be saving the little muslin bags I’ve filled and strung on the tree in a Christmas Countdown gift garland for my baby. I think this is going to become an annual thing. <3
If I were to win this ham, just think how many friends I could feed! Already planning my "Agape Feast" for this year.
I save the turkey carcass and leftover bits to make turkey soup the next day.
Believe it or not. I save the FAT. It will make the soup or stock that much better. If you have any nice slices of ham left (which you probably will…haha) to pan fry, that small layer of fat crisps up nice and tastes ohhh so good. Happy Holidays Everyone!!!
I save the zest from clementines and use it to flavor my spiced walnuts. I give the walnuts as gifts and use them to make filling for pastries.
What a gorgeous memory of your mum Carolyn! All that goodness slowly cooked to extract all of the marrow and flavour from the bones. Good luck to all the entrants!
I save Christmas cards. I use them the next year by cutting out some of the pictures and designs and adding them to cards I make with other scraps. Sometimes I use them to send to the people who originally sent them to me. It is fun to get the email saying it looks cute or how did I do that and everyone enjoys. The ones from my best friend I save because she makes her cards and has the most gorgeous handwriting. I have been saving them for years and I put them out on display at Christmas for my friends to see.
I freeze cranberries, which are only available at this time of year, for use in quick breads, granola and for cranberry relish to go with a good roasted chicken in the spring.
My wife saved bows from presents to reuse and I freeze bags of cranberries, especially when I buy them on sale, for use during the year. I also get a larger than needed turkey for Thanksgiving, vacuum seal the leftover meat, and freeze for various recipes during the year. The same goes for when I get a standing rib roast. I freeze leftover meat for sandwiches, including BBQ beef, and the bones for flavoring stocks. I also check expiration dates for my canned goods and give to food drives when nearing the end date.
I label and freeze the bones, juice, sauce, everything tasty to incorporate into more deliciousness for another day.
I really trying to make point of saving Money . Instead of buying i am making lots of Decorations myself. I gather pinecones in the Fall and spray them with gold and silver spray paint. i bake homemade cinnamon ornaments for decoration and air-freshener in closets and car. I head out in the Woods and and cut fresh Pine branches and make my own Wreaths and decorate them with pine cones , cinnamon ornaments and ornaments bought for a couple of cents from Helping Hands, Good Samaritan ( where i also buy my gift wraps,bows,giftbags etc. I also gift them to my neighbors for christmas instead of presents and everybody is looking forward to having a fresh pretty wreath on their front door =) and i have fun making them.
I save ribbons – my mom and I both enjoy fancy gift wrap, and we save special ribbons and boxes to gift to each other so they stay in the family!
Of course, I save the turkey carcass from any meal that I can scavenge it from. If it’s at my house, it’s mine. If it’s from someone else’s house, I always ask if they will use it. I use it for jook. It’s my favorite for that, but will also use ham hocks if there’s no turkey carcass around. For the little grandkids, it’s one of the best foods for them when they are not feeling well and don’t have an appetite for a regular full meal. It’s almost like nutritional medicine. They love it. LOL. I also saved my handmade and hand painted dough art ornaments for about 35 years. After every Christmas, I wrapped them in paper towels before packing them away in the attic. Sadly, my husband put them away last year, without wrapping them. Many have now disintegrated in parts and ruined. I’m saddened. Maybe a nice, delicious ham will help me feel better.
The things I make a point of saving during the holidays are not tangible things, or material things. They’re memories of Christmases past. When I bake persimmon cookies or persimmon bread, I think about my late mother, and I remember how she’d delight in giving her baked persimmon treats to her friends and coworkers. Or when I make a batch of hot spiced apple cider, I’m reminded of the many hours I spent with my mother on Christmas Day at her home in San Francisco, sipping on hot apple cider, and talking about good times.
Memories of Christmases past is what I like to save during the holidays. They are special moments that come alive during this festive time of year.
The hambone is always saved at my house, going back generations. Coming from an Irish mother and German father our soup has always been split pea. Not just simmered with the bone. Some of that great meat is also saved to add the salty sweetness, with potato added to thicken the broth. Always takes me back to my childhood in the Midwest. A hot bowl of soup on a frozen winter’s night. Moved to California about a year ago. Thanks for reviving this wonderful memory. I need to remember to get my ham for New Years, and make room in the freezer for the bone.
Since we have a lot of seafood on Christmas Eve like shrimp, crawfish and crab legs, I make a point of not getting rid of the shells so they can be used to make a stock base for either bisque soups or delicious seafood gravy.