How to Carve a Ham

Just in case any of you want to know! 

Don't feel bad if you've never understood this. I was well into my 40s before I caught on. In my birth family, the carving of meat was a manly job that my father always did, so I never paid any attention. (Of course, I rarely paid attention to anything my mother did either. But, that's my excuse this time :) In  Grampa Tom's family though, it was Mom's job, so he never paid any attention either. 

Put two people together who haven't a clue and give this responsibility to a woman who is spacially challenged (yes, I made up that term) and what you come up with is a mess when it comes to carving meat. I would stand the ham up on it's end, take a slice off the outside and then work in from there. I could never figure out how people got such pretty looking slices and I always wound up with at least a few slices of inedible fat. 

Then one day, I splurged and bought a spiral ham. The meat was pre-cut in slices that went from the outside straight down into the bone, but they didn't just come off. 

To be quite honest, this baffled me too, but Grampa Tom (who is not spacially challenged) saw me struggling and suggested that I cut around the bone.

And then cut the slices off by making a slice from the outside into the bone. It worked!!!

Now, I can actually do this with a ham that is not pre-sliced, but it doesn't look as pretty. I still have a great deal of trouble getting those slices from the outside of the ham down to the bone anywhere near even (remember, I'm spacially challenged). So, if I can find spiral hams on sale (I'm to cheap to by them regular priced.), I buy a couple just so I can have pretty looking ham. (Yes, I cheated with this one.) 

We won't use the hole ham in just a few days so after I get them sliced I pack what we won't use that day into in cheap zippy bags. I put  2 or 3 servings worth in a bag so that I can just pull what I need out of the freezer. We will use the entire ham within 5 - 6 weeks so there's not much chance of freezer burn, but just to make sure, I put all of them into a plastic grocery sack and tie it shut. 

So there you have it. One of the great mysteries of life that I did't figure out until I was over 40. Someday, I might have to write a book! I'm sure I have enough material :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue