to be annoyed at the ham supermarkets sell

[StealthPolarBear]

It is almost all "formed", which, as a vegetarian I don't know but believe that is not a good thing.
It took me ages to find some that was just cooked sliced ham in Sainsbury's yesterday, and I've had similar in Tesco.
I know the answer is to buy from the butcher and I have been trying to but it's not always practical

I don't really understand your post, but I assume you're vegetarian and buy meat for another family member. Can you please clarify that as otherwise you risk letting people think that vegetarians eat ham. We do not!

The deli counter usually has proper ham. But it sounds like you need a better supermarket...

If you know the answer is to buy from a butcher then just do it. If it's not practical to always buy from a butcher, then choose something else if you know you can only get to a supermarket.

Buying from a good reputable butcher who knows the provenance of the meat often means the animals have had a better standard of welfare. Supermarket ham is often from countries outside the UK where legislation is less stringent.

YABU - this is why supermarkets provide crappy ham because people will buy it. Even when they know better

You need naice ham!

Even some of the premium hams on sale are formed - I prefer to see mine sliced from the joint at the butcher's counter - though I'm not sure I'd be 100% certain about that...

I buy cheap square ham on purpose.

exacty Rusty, all the premium stuff seems to be formed, apart from the odd one
Yes Jan, I am buying it for the rest of my family
don'tyouwantme - unfortunately DS is very fussy and ham is one of the few things he will eat. However Ihave in the past done this - making DH and DD eat cheese or egg sandwiches all week (which is fine) rather than buy ham

Yes YABU to be annoyed with the ham. It's not the ham's fault. You should be annnoyed with the supermarket.
And buy free range ham from the butcher or a cheaper source of protein.

I buy a gammon joint and boil it, yummy ham

Most supermarkets have a deli counter, don't they? Well, maybe not the wee metro ones.

I do buy from the butcher (or just not bother) most of the time. Which is why when I bought from the supermarket I particularly noticed and it annoyed me.

It's ham. It's not suppose to be naice, no matter what MN might say.

TBH I'd never considered the deli counter - a very good point! Is the meat from there of butcher quality?

Please be nice to me and bear in mind I have recently started threads about ham vs pork vs gammon (and still don't really understand) so don't assume any prior knowledge other than it used to go oink

the only supermarket that sells free range proper ham, seems to be waitrose

and its expensive, but id rather pay extra and avoid torture meat

I know what you mean about the formed ham, goodness knows what the put in it.
It really annoys me as they also have a huge water content aswell.

The on the bone ham is always cut really thick as well.

On holiday in Ireland there is loads of choice for proper ham. Especially the smaller supermarkets,

square ham is great, no wastage! It's not the same quality, I see it as different food form ham on the bone, but have both!

Waitrose is very far away (20 miles +)
Think I just need to make more of the effort to go to the butcher

Just go to the deli part and buy it off the bone. Formed ham is rank. I also won't buy it. Someone on here once called it "wet farty ham" which I have never forgotten.

Some people do not like "proper" ham, others cannot afford it.

Some people do not care that much about food standards, but, tbh, it isn't difficult to not eat ham, so i would count most eaters of "unnecessary" animal products, in with that, even if they feel superior, because they are buying meat products that are as they come off the animal.

stealth - I think out of all the supermarkets, Morrison's is the one that has its own butcher's department and uses produce from the UK (one of the reasons it wasn't implicated in the recent horse-meat scandal). So if you easily get there to pick up the ham rather than buy the stuff on offer elsewhere. If I am only near to a Tesco, I refuse to buy ham from there, not always the easy option when you have to think of something else I agree.

Asda do a fab ham, cooked in black treacle and stout. It's awesome.

But would the deli in (say) Sainsbury's be similar to a butcher?
Ikwym about morrisson's but again they're not really close to here and nowhere I'd naturally be iyswim? Tesco is very close as is Lidl (no non-formed ham there) and Sainsbury's is in a place I'd tend to be anyway. Where I can I like fitting in trips to the shops with other things I'm doing anyway (lazy!)

stealth - haven't seen your other threads but difference between gammon and ham is that the former is cured but uncooked and only comes from a certain cut of the pig (hind legs).

Ham is ready to eat and can be from different cuts of the animal. Confusingly, once gammon has been cooked it is sometimes called 'gammon ham' but that's not the same as 'ham' iyswim? (confusing myself now).

I don't know what you don't understand about 'pork' though?