Posts Tagged ‘ham’





Ham and Egg Tostadas

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015







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Ham It Up – Again!




Last week, I shared with you the fact that, though one can think that one has all things under control, the reality usually rears its ugly head and one finds out that one has NOTHING under control! My dad used to tell about a professor at the University of Kentucky, back in the 1950s, who used to quip that as soon as you think you have control over anything, just take a big rock, hold it over your foot, drop it and then WILL it to stop. That will cure you of that illusion.


BUT….I also have been taught to make lemonade out of lemons, or in this case, ham and egg tostadas out of ham that I didn’t get to serve! We love these breakfast yummies and the ham that I had to can after the disaster at our son’s rehearsal dinner has come in really handy! They are wonderful for a brunch as well and look so pretty on the plate.


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Home canned ham is wonderful for this breakfast treat, but you can used any kind of ham you like. It just needs to be shredded or chopped. Toss 1/2 cup of ham, per person, into a hot skillet that has been wiped or sprayed with a little olive oil and toss until thoroughly heated. Remove ham to a bowl or plate and place in a slightly warmed oven.


Ham and Egg Tostadas



Ingredients:
Per Person:
1-2 eggs
1 corn tortilla
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup shredded or chopped smoked ham
1 tbsp. chopped onion
1 tbsp. chopped green pepper
1/4 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup chopped tomato
Sour Cream, Cilantro and Guacamole for Garnish


Printable Recipe

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Add a tbsp. of butter and a tbsp. of olive oil to the skillet and heat until butter is melted.


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Prepare one corn tortilla per person and place into hot oil for about 30 seconds. Quickly flip and allow to cook until puffy places start appearing. Pick up with tongs and transfer to a paper towel and pat to remove excess oil. Repeat until all tortillas are cooked. You want the tortillas to be tender, not crispy. Add more oil and butter as needed. Stack on a plate and place into the warmed oven as well.


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In a bowl, add one to two eggs per person with 1 tbsp. of milk per egg. Add a dash of salt and pepper and whisk until well-scrambled. In the skillet that is still hot and has the remaining oil and butter in it, add eggs and stir to cook. When about half-cooked, add onions and green peppers. Continue stirring and tossing to scramble the eggs.


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On each plate, place one tortilla in the center and top with 1/2 cup of ham. Add eggs, onions and green peppers on top of the ham. Sprinkle shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese over the surface of the eggs. If the cheese doesn’t melt right away, microwave for a few seconds to melt it. Add freshly chopped tomatoes and picante sauce. Garnish with fresh cilantro and sour cream or guacamole if desired.



Happy Eating!



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MB
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Home-Cured Ham

Friday, May 20th, 2011





Home-Cured Tennessee

Country Ham



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Country Ham and Red-eye gravy made with a dash of coffee, eggs, grits and biscuits – yum, yum!


I have to preface this post with the smart-aleck comment made by Mr. Fix-It this morning. As he was looking through the photos being chosen to include and saw the title of the post, “Home-Cured Ham”, he asked, “The ham’s sick? What’s it got? Swine Flu?” Yes, you can groan too.


Though I was born an “Okie”, I spent most of my “growing up years” in East Tennessee. If one lives in East Tennessee long enough, one eventually falls in love with the local treat – Tennessee Country Ham. This salty, aged and sometimes smoked miracle of meat is only improved when accompanied by beans, “red-eye gravy”, fried okra, biscuits and Spoonbread or grits. Because it is salty-salty, slices are soaked for a few hours to overnight, depending on the amount of saltiness enjoyed, and then pan fried in a cast iron skillet for a crusty delicacy.


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Various stages and amounts of mold can cover salt-cured hams

The unique feature of country ham is the layer of mold that forms on the wrapping paper and ham surface as it hangs and ages. Newbies who receive a Tennessee Country Ham for a gift usually freak when they unbag their present and then unwrap the paper that has shrouded the meat all during the curing process. A nice, moldy carpet coats portions of the rind and paper. This is simply removed by scrubbing the ham with a mixture of vinegar and water or with plain water and a stiff bristle brush. The meat is sliced with a saw just 1/4″ thick.


Having worked in a meat department that was constantly visited by local farmers toting their treasured cured hams to be sliced, I learned that it was ‘bragging rights’ when it came to how long one of these hams were hung. Three years was the limit, but it seemed that the more mold and the longer aged the better these ‘specialists’ viewed their product. Hog killing commenced around Thanksgiving, hams, bacon and shoulders were cured and smokehouses were loaded with the goodies to be smoked or to be used without smoking.


I remember one farmer’s story about a most disastrous year. He had corn fed and slaughtered his pigs to put up meat for the year. After a gruelling day of salting down, wrapping and hanging portions, cutting up roasts, chops, ribs and other cuts for the freezer, grinding sausage and rendering lard, this industrious man and his family went to bed and slept the sleep of hard workers. The family went about the rest of the year and on into winter with the happy knowledge that come Fall, there would be good eatin’s from the smokehouse for sure. Sometime during the summer, the farmer went to the smokehouse and opened the door. To his horror, all that he found hanging from the rafters were bones tied with rope and picked totally clean of any shred of meat. Rats had crawled along the rafters, shinnied down the ropes and feasted on the cured meats without so much as asking!


In the meat department, we cured hams all year long. We purchased fresh hams from our local packing plant, which you can do as well. We let them warm at room temperature for a couple of hours and then coated with our cure, hanging them in the cooler for the first 12 weeks. As meat begins to cure, it must be kept cool. This is why the farmers always waited until Thanksgiving or later to kill their hogs. With a walk-in cooler or refrigerator, however, the curing process can take place any time of the year.


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Boning the loin to make boneless pork chops and babyback ribs

I thought that I would give you a step-by-step lesson on how to create these wonderful hams with the help of some great kids. A group of home schooled students got to mix an anatomy and physiology class with learning to cure meat at the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ digs. We had purchased a hog that was taken to our local packing house and then we picked up the quarters to process ourselves, including curing the hams. As you will see, curing meat is a pretty simple process and is a wonderful way to preserve meats for a long time. One note, however, once these hams are sliced, the meat must be wrapped in freezer paper and frozen or, if eaten soon after slicing, kept in the refrigerator for a short time.


Cure Mix For One Ham

  • 3 cups salt without iodine
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon saltpeter (purchase at pharmacy)
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper


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    Open two paper bags to lay flat and tape together or use butcher paper. Center ham onto paper. Mix ingredients together into a bowl and pack, little-by-little, around the meat



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    Force cure into crevices, under flaps of skin or fat and into and around any protruding bones.



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    Fold paper bag or butcher paper over the ham and tape as a tight package



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    Tape completely shut and tape around shank area so that final product has the shape of the ham



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    Place in a bag – we use old pillow cases – with the shank end into one corner of the bag. Twist top tightly and tie a rope around the twisted end. Hang in a refrigerator with shank down by tying the rope to one of the refrigerator shelves. An old extra refrigerator works great for this as other shelves can be removed, using only one shelf from which to hang hams. The temperature should be normal frig temperature. Hang for 12 weeks. A pan should be put below the ham because fluid will drip from it for those 12 weeks. At the end of the three months, remove ham from refrigerator and hang anywhere convenient at room temperature. We like to hang ours for a year but some people hang them for 8 to 9 months.



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    When the ham has cured for the desired length of time, take it down, remove the cloth sack and cut away the paper.



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    Wash the ham, using vinegar and water or just water and a good bristle scrub brush



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    Cleaned ham ready for cutting



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    Cut off rind and trim fat



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    Slice with a hand saw or band saw or take to your local meat packer to have him slice it for you. Wrap slices in freezer paper and freeze



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    To cook, soak meat in water for a couple of hours in the refrigerator and then place in a heated cast iron skillet coated with a little bit of olive oil. Brown on both sides and add water to nearly cover. Allow to cook for about 15-20 minutes until water cooks down to nearly gone. Remove ham and add more water plus about a tablespoon of coffee. Cook down until the consistency of thin gravy for “red-eye” gravy.



    So there you have it!!


    Happy Curing!



    MB
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