Christmas Ham

I want a whole pale ham about 7 kilo, I can get this in Dunne’s for €3.69 per kilo so around €26.00

I believe butchers are charging considerably more, up to €6 per kilo, meaning my ham would cost €42.

Is there a sufficient difference in quality to justify this price differential?

I prefer butcher meat, as a lot of the supermarkets meat has a lot of water content.

I use a George Foreman grill, and when cooking meat, the difference between the release of water in the two types is massive.

Supermarket meat can half fill the drip tray, whereas I may only get a few drops of water out of butcher meat.

However, its all in about what you can afford. Buying meat on a weekly basis for myself and my boyfriend is a lot different to forking out for a Christmas Ham at nearly double the price.

I would go with whatevers in your price range.

I too find a big difference between joints of meat purchased in a supermarket and those bought from the local butcher - the butcher always has better quality. At the end of the day, it's up to you where you buy your ham and how much you're willing to pay for it, but I would definitely go to the butcher myself when buying big joints of meat. I suppose part of the price discrepancy could be to do with supermarket chains being able to buy a heck of a lot more in bulk than an independent butcher, but I firmly believe you're paying that little bit extra for quality too.

Definitely worth paying the extra to a butcher.As an aside, Pops just rang me saying that he bought one of those joints in Dunnes and doesn't have a pot big enough for it so he has it in the oven at 180 degrees. Surely he HAS to boil it first?? Also said that if it wasn't cooked in the middle when he gets there he'll just stick it in again, thought this would be dangerous but he can't be told.

baldyman27 said:

Definitely worth paying the extra to a butcher.As an aside, Pops just rang me saying that he bought one of those joints in Dunnes and doesn't have a pot big enough for it so he has it in the oven at 180 degrees. Surely he HAS to boil it first?? Also said that if it wasn't cooked in the middle when he gets there he'll just stick it in again, thought this would be dangerous but he can't be told.

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I know that I've always boiled the ham before baking it, but maybe it isn't essential? I suppose if he cooks it for long enough (several hours, if it's so big that it won't fit in the pot!) it should be okay.

Cheers Celtwytch, will still be making my sandwiches from the outer slices, Pops will hopefully survive another day!

Good plan!