What do I do with all this ham

[Boules]

We bought one of those big chunks of Serrano ham from lidl and I’m not sure what to do with it now it’s been opened - the packaging said it has to be used within two days but it’s way too much for us to eat (we were planning on having a couple of get togethers with big family and use it then but they didn’t go ahead) so what’s the best thing to do? Google says it doesn’t freeze well and various sites say it can be kept for a lot longer but I’m not sure it’s exactly the same kind of ham (it’s less dry than the ones you see stored at room temperature in delis and things) and I don’t want to poison us. Please help! The thought of wasting meat, in particular, is horrible.

Freeze some?

I would probably freeze it. Might not be quite as tasty but should be ok.

Yeah that’s what I thought I’d do but googling says it ruins it to freeze it? I might have to though and just use it in cooking or something. Was hoping someone would come along and say it’s ok to keep it refrigerated longer than the packaging says

Sorry x posted with @Yoohoo16

Make a bacon and ham pie then freeze it?

Urgh meant to say egg and ham!

If it's going to waste you're not losing anything by freezing it.

Do a pie and maybe a quiche. Use it in soup and freeze that.

It might have to be a ham and ham pie as there’s such a ridiculous amount of it 😂

But thanks yeah I could just make a load of freezable dishes with it in. It’ll probably put us off ham for life

Soup is a good suggestion!

I'd make a massive pot of ham and spicey lentil soup and then freeze portions of that if you've space?

I'm sure serrano ham doesn't go off in 2 days

Isn't it air cured? In Spain they have them hanging from the ceiling.

In fact I just checked wiki yes it is the case they hang for about 18 months. The point being to preserve them.

I don't think it will go off for ages!

This says you can keep it for 2 to 3 months at room temp after cutting! www.proper-spanish-tapas.com/storing-serrano-ham.html

It lasts a LOT longer than 2 days once opened.

I put ours in a Tupperware tub, so airtight, and we cut bits off it for weeks.

Ham. "Eat within 2 days"? This is bollocks. Spanish ham takes months to make:

Some is matured / cured for a minimum of 36-month. That's 3 YEARS!

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The idea that it will suddenly go rancid in 48 hours of opening is, quite frankly, utter nonsense. (Unless you live in an open sewer of course.)

Ok that’s encouraging thanks! Because obviously it is nicer just eaten as it is. So is it better to have it in the fridge or just out do you think? Do I wrap it in paper?

I bought a Lidl serrano ham chunk, it was fine in the fridge for weeks.

They keep these things on bars in Spain, unrefrigerated, and will take longer than 2 days to use, even in a busy bar, so the 'eat within 2 days' advice is bollocks, it's cured FFS.

I used it in a Spanish omelette. Ate quite a lot of it as part of a tapas plate with olives, bread, cheese, pickles.

When we were last in Spain, we discovered the 'serranito' which is a sandwich with a fried slice of serrano ham, thin pork loin slice, grilled green pepper and garlic mayonnaise, in a ciabatta style roll, which we really enjoyed, so we had a few of those.

You could make it into croquettes or fry slices of it with eggs.

I think it took us a couple of months to get through ours and it was absolutely fine. When I rule the world, I will ban 'throw away after 2 days' type instructions because they are completely unnecessary and lead to so much food waste.

@BarbaraofSeville perfect, thank you