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Show Taste Whats Happened to Easter Ham! By CLEMENTINE PADDLEFORD m, Today m f,i Editor traditional meat is leaner, tastier, less trouble. And the best is yet to tome Ham comes TO ITS CLOUT on Easter Day. It leads the parade of festive foods, all aglisten in its coat of crusted sweetness. And hams, have you noticed, are getting better and better? Pigs is not just pigs any longer. The nondescript porker of Grandfathers farm, penned in a mud lot, fed on food scrape, has given way to selected types, schedule-raise- d by formula result, hams superior. Hams today come to their Golden Age. What has happened to hams has happened to all cuts of pork. A little over 25 years ago farmers began to slim down the hog. The lady with the market basket wanted hams and pork chops with more meat and less fat. The public was becoming wdght conscious. Lard was less important in cooking; vegetable oils had come into prominence. Work began in developing a "meat type hog, partially through diet but most importantly through Jam VBi with the leftovers! g and selection. Today about 34 per cent of the pork coming to market originates from the meat-typhog which averages around 225 pounds, as compared with 300 pounds a quarter of a century ago. This hog is marketed at a younger age, therefore more tender. The animal is lighter in weight, yet hams weigh as usual. Also packers and retailers are trimming pork more closely. All of this adds up to a ham with a lower calorie count. Now pork can be included on a reducing diet. And ham, remember, is a gold mine of nutrition. cross-breedin- e Curing shortens cooking The first big change came to hams in the early Twenties with improved refrigeration. Heavy salting was no longer necessary for preservation. New phrases appeared on the meat wrappers. "Do Not Soak. Do Not Parboil. "Keep in Refrigerator. Came a new cure formula and a new method of curing which made it possible to leave the hams in the smoke ovens for a longer period of time. This shortened cooking. Previously hams came to the market extremely dry and salty, the prepara-tioa tremendous job. Hams were soaked overnight in the wash boiler to get out the salt, then simmered several hours until tender. The final job was to remove the skin, cut awav excess fat, then to bake. Fully Cooked ham was the next innovation. This ham was completely cooked in the plant, chilled and wrapped for shipment to stores. Directions on the read "Slice and Serve. wrapper n brush-scrubbe- A r p & new ham silhouette In the new-styl- e hams, cure ingredients are introduced into the meat to bring about immediate and complete cure distribution not possible by the absorption method, so the time required for curing is reduced. This new method insures a ham mellow, and sweet, of even cure throughout, of uniform color, never over-saltand of texture ideal for carving. The ham silhouette has been changing over t e years. For your choice is short shank, shank- ess, skinless, boneless, and the boneless ham rolls. These hams are available in two styles, the "cook before eating which can be ed quickly, and the tomhmved oo pogo 14 semi-boneles- HAMTHSMt Ants, Lots of troys to servo your holiday leftovers : For new recipes, see Page 14 U THIS WfEK Mogoil. April 73. 1962 |