Smithfield county hams, by law, have to made in a certain way, and
nothing in that code would allow a "low sodium" ham. You have to dry
salt the ham, and age it until it ends up as a Smithfield Ham. Some
sneaky little bugger outside the county line injected your "low sodium"
ham with a bit of brine, and then proceeded to make it like a Smithfield
by dry curing it following. A true Smithfield ham is very hard to
desalt, as Julia Child says in many of her writings.
Kent

jmcquown wrote:
>
> Kent H. wrote:
> > I have tried to cook a number of Smithfield hams unsuccessfully,
> > including soaking for 24 hours in the basement with several changes of
> > water to desalt before cooking, and it has never worked quite right.
> > What do you and what does mother and father do to make it right?
> > Thanks
> > Kent
>
> This was a bone-in large ham, lower sodium so no soaking necessary. They
> simply put it in the large roasting pan on a rack (it barely fit!) and baked
> it for 5 hours. I've never cooked a ham like this myself so I really
> couldn't tell you if there is a secret to it, but I suspect there isn't.
> Not sure why yours don't turn out.
>
> Jill
>
> > jmcquown wrote:
> >>
> >> I ordered a 1/2 Smithfield lower sodium (due to Mom's diet
> >> restrictions) EZ Slice ham for my parents, along with some "Buster
> >> Bones". Buster Bones are fully cooked meaty ham bones which are
> >> either treats for large dogs or may be used in cooking. My dad
> >> likes to use a ham bone like that when he makes his navy bean soup.
> >> I alerted my parents to expect the package.
> >>
> >> I got a phone call from my parents asking me, "Why did you send us
> >> dog bones?" When I finished laughing I explained. Mom said, "Oh,
> >> then I guess I'll tell your father to stop gnawing on that one." LOL
> >>
> >> A couple of days later (Saturday) I was talking to Mom and mentioned
> >> what they could do with the leftover ham. She said, "Why do you
> >> keep talking about a ham? We didn't get a ham." "Well I sure as
> >> heck was charged for one! Gotta go make a call, Mom."
> >>
> >> Smithfield is closed on weekends. So I sent them an email. Then I
> >> called to follow-up on Tuesday (when I remembered!). They said the
> >> ham had been shipped that day for overnight delivery and gave me a
> >> tracking number.
> >>
> >> Wednesday evening my parents called me. Delivered was a 15 POUND
> >> ham. WHAT?! I didn't order you a 15 lb. ham! (At least it was
> >> lower sodium.) It was pretty comical listening to them describe how
> >> it barely fit into the turkey roaster.
> >>
> >> The mystery was solved when I signed on tonight and checked my email.
> >> Apparently Smithfield was out of the half ham I'd ordered. When
> >> they got my email and realized the problem, customer service took it
> >> upon themselves to send a whole ham at no extra cost, priority
> >> overnight delivery. Now THAT is service!
> >>
> >> My 79-year-old parents cooked the ham the same day. And Dad has yet
> >> another ham bone. They're going have to package up and freeze a lot
> >> of it and give a good bit of it away to neighbors. Even with that,
> >> they're going to have ham for a loooong time!
> >>
> >> Tonight, Dad said, they're quickly heating a couple of slices in a
> >> skillet and having ham & eggs for dinner
> >>
> >> Jill