I recently hosted a Christmas Eve dinner which included extended family that brought the meal count to over nineteen people. Our kitchen provided the meats, cheeses, appetizers, and beverages while our guests brought side dishes and desserts to pass. It was a total pot luck effort that took a lot of the cooking burden away from our household! The meat selection included ample deli meats consisting of oven roasted turkey breast and Genoa salami. The largest meat dish included a Hormel spiral sliced ham that I had baked and served warm.
I picked up this ham by Hormel as it was competitively priced at $1.49 per pound and weighed in at eight pounds; which has allowed for extras post holiday meals. The sale price was cheaper than the Cooks and Meijer brands, so this choice was a no brainer. The fact that it was pre-sliced made the decision even easier.
The ham was a good quality meat and tasted even better as I added some seasonings along with a healthy dose of brown sugar and ginger ale as the eight pounder baked for a couple of hours. The meat held the heat well as I wrapped it in foil for an hour as I went to Christmas Eve church service. I am not sure if one can really get a bad ham, but this one tasted delicious. When I had originally looked at this brand ham, I had considered going with the more expensive Cook’s brand as my previous experience with Hormel meats were associated to the high sodium “ready to eat” items such as canned stews and hash that look less than pleasing when revealed from the container.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and I am still scrambling to find ways to serve this ham up besides the already tested breakfast sandwich, omelets, Stromboli sandwich, and addition to macaroni and cheese. Overall, the Hormel spiral sliced ham is considered a good buy.
