those of you who cook your own ham some questions?

[mothersmilk]

was thinking of doind this this week can you guys help me out a little?
family of 5 dh and i plus 3 kids 10 4 and 2 how big should i go for sandwiches and salads? and is it really more echonomicle than deli stuff?
many thansk

Much more economical than the Deli.
Firstly you can tweak the cooking of it to use things like Marmalade or Coca Cola, secondly you can have it hot for the first meal (great with Parsley Sauce) and then slice for cold. You could always freeze what you don't use. Just remember to soak in cold water for a couple of hours, bring to the boil, chuck the water away and start again before you cook it. This makes it far less salty.

Buying from the Deli can cost as much as £2 for 100gm (£20 per Kg or £9 per lb). Cooking your own has got to be better than that hasn't it!

If you get a decent-size gammon joint about 1.8 - 2kgs it'll cost about £8. Because there's no bone or waste and it doesn't shrink with cooking you'll end up with pretty much 2kgs of ham to slice up. I've made one last a hot meal for 4, then sliced thinly on a salad and sandwiches and the chunky end bit gets chopped up and turns up in a soup or a risotto or something.

I'd also recommend soaking in cold water overnight & changing the water before boiling for the time indicated on the wrapping. Tip... allow to cool fully in the cooking water if you want very moist ham for slicing.

Probaly a bit late but,

I buy a big as I can afford.

Then slice on one of these and freeze in batchs of 6/7 slices.

I also do the same with beef and pork. It so much cheaper then buying ham slices etc.