Pickin' Meat
Tonight I'm baking a peppered ham for some neighbors who just had a new baby (his name is Ben and he's super cute). I love ham, and I always forget how great it smells when it's baking. I bet if my people had to choose between turkey and ham for Thanksgiving (we usually have both), a family vote would favor the pig. A turkey is generally more elegant. Few un-carved things sit so beautifully on a platter, but judging strictly on taste I really think ham is the way we'd go.
Arkansans, like most people in the south and a lot of people here in the midwest, have adored ham for ages (it is no coincidence that the University of Arkansas has a mythologized pig for a mascot). I don't care for the weird loaf-shaped slabs or the deli cuts (if I want flavorless ham, I'll just eat thin-sliced turkey. It’s healthier.). I like the kind of ham that you can fry up in the morning and make red-eye gravy with. Throw in a few biscuits, eggs, and coffee and I wouldn't have to eat again for the rest of the day.
So how about you? Turkey or ham? If on Thanksgiving Day you had to make such a sad choice, which would it be?
Arkansans, like most people in the south and a lot of people here in the midwest, have adored ham for ages (it is no coincidence that the University of Arkansas has a mythologized pig for a mascot). I don't care for the weird loaf-shaped slabs or the deli cuts (if I want flavorless ham, I'll just eat thin-sliced turkey. It’s healthier.). I like the kind of ham that you can fry up in the morning and make red-eye gravy with. Throw in a few biscuits, eggs, and coffee and I wouldn't have to eat again for the rest of the day.
So how about you? Turkey or ham? If on Thanksgiving Day you had to make such a sad choice, which would it be?
posted by Troy at 4:00 AM
8 Comments:
Dear Troy,
I'm a ham man myself. Though I just got saw my father this week and he was talking with me about Thanksgiving. Now that we live in Indianapolis people are coming to our home for the holiday -- cuz we're right in the middle of a spread-out clan. Anyway...last year was the first of these annual holiday celebrations here in Indy and Dad and Sue got a salmon and cooked it for Thanksgiving. This year Dad said to me -- "can you arrange to pick up the traditional Thanksgiving salmon, Mike?"
Dear Troy and Mike,
I love it...the traditional Thanksgiving salmon...don'cha just love traditions? Being a vegetarian, I cannot comment on which I prefer, ham or turkey. Though I must say that when I did eat meat, I LOVED ham, especially as prepared by the Boy Scouts for their annual ham sandwich fundraiser on the town square. I agree that ham is a wonderful breakfast meat cooked alongside a couple fried eggs. My Mom traditionally prepares a single dish of vegetarian stuffing for me each year and hides it on the lower shelf of the table saw (we have our Thanksgiving in my brother Phil's garage.)
I am a turkey girl myself. Never been a fan of the ham. In fact, I'm not crazy about Easter, I call it "The Ham Holiday". Besides, Hamfurky just doesn't have the same ring as Tofurky for your vegetarian friends.
That is a really tough call. I mean, I grew up eating Thanksgiving turkey, but I love ham, too. Okay...if I have to choose, I'll go with turkey. But I do have to tell you that one year for Easter, my mom made a turkey-ham. Basically, it looks like a ham, but it's made of turkey. How does that work, anyway?
in the mcclain family we call the red-eye gravy version of ham "real ham."
real ham or bust.
Effingham!!
Note that all of the Arkansans have chosen ham so far.
Ham!!! And the kind we get at Coursey's Smokehouse on the way to Fayetteville is the best. Your Mom, Dad, Trish and I always stopped there for sandwiches, going or coming from the game. The cheese and bacon offerings weren't bad either.
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