While turkey is king over the Thanksgiving holiday, there’s a growing opportunity for other meats to take some of the spotlight. According to economists at CoBank, some consumers have moved away from preparing a whole turkey for Thanksgiving, and ham is capturing a larger share of protein purchases.
So today, we ask the butcher what the best options are for preparing ham for the holiday table. Nick Vorpagel is with Lake Geneva Country Meats, a third-generation butcher shop. They do custom processing of beef, hogs, and lambs in addition to their retail store.
He says his customers seek everything from boneless to spiral sliced hams, ham steaks, pork loin roasts, and smoked jowls or hocks for stews. You also have options of cured, uncured, and fresh.
“It’s people that still want to have all those flavors around Thanksgiving — your mashed potatoes and gravy, your cranberry sauce, your stuffing, all of those things — and pork goes really well with that if you don’t want to do turkey.”
When the family is in town, having too much for Thanksgiving is better than not enough, especially in Wisconsin, where we love sending people home with leftovers. But what’s a good target for how much meat you should have per person?
Vorpagel recommends 1 lb of ham per person for a bone-in ham. He recommends .5 lbs per person for a boneless ham. With ham, leftovers are easy. Vorpagel recommends sandwiches, casseroles, and soups as easy post-Thanksgiving menu items to use up that protein.
As far as cooking instructions, Vorpagel says a smoker can be tasty, but it’s more work. He prefers the oven. He recommends heating a fully cooked ham (uncured or cured) in a roasting rack with a little water at the bottom at 325 degrees to a temperature of 130-140 degrees. It takes about 10 minutes per pound.
Vorpagel finishes heating the ham with a glaze. He recommends fall flavor staples: cranberries, apple cider, or maple, for example. Don’t forget to score the top with diamond shapes about a half-inch deep so that the flavors can soak into the meat. Glaze the ham in the last 30 minutes of the cooking time. Kick the heat up to 425 degrees, cover with foil, and let the glaze bake on. Happy Thanksgiving!