HINCH'S XMAS HAM

I rashly (‘scuse the pun) bought a slab of what they called “Virginian Leg Ham” at the supermarket recently. A “ selected portion trimmed of fat and smoked for extra flavour”.

The label also boasted that it was “ideal for entertainment all year round”.

It may be “ideal for entertainment”. You could perhaps use it for a football over the Yuletide season. Or a doorstop. Because you certainly wouldn’t want to eat it.

I’d say it tasted like cardboard but that would insult the cardboard. It tasted like nothing. I made myself a ham and lettuce and mild English mustard sandwich and all I could taste was lettuce and mustard. This was a ham-fisted attempt at a ham. I threw it away.

And that gives a segue excuse into the best ham I have ever eaten.

Every Christmas, for years, I have followed a ritual. On Christmas Eve I would buy a leg of ham, bone in, tanned skin on. Take it home. Peel back the skin and keep it as a flavour-saving flap, trim the fat underneath and then slice succulent slivers from close to the bone. Then I’d wrap it in a damp tea towel and store it in the bottom of the fridge for Xmas and New Year snacks. Ham and mustard sandwiches on white bread. Toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. Chop a few slices into cubes and put them in a saucepan with a can of baked beans, and fried onions, an egg, and a slice of cheese and ground black pepper and Tabasco.

Well, this year I have found something better. Heaven on the bone! The best double smoked ham OFF the bone that I have ever eaten. It comes from female young pork (only the good looking ones) and comes packed in one kilogram packets.

It will keep in your fridge for three months so you don’t have to eat it all at once and 'OD 'on it. (This is the 23rd recipe for leftover Xmas ham).

No fat, no bone, no gristle. Just the best smoked ham that you will ever eat.

It is the first offering in our Eric The Red range of meat products. It is very, very good.

You can check out the ordering details soon on the new Hinch’s Larder website. Happy Christmas. Happy eating.

November 23, 2004