Fresh picnic hams were a staple in our house when I was a boy. Daddy would often put a big ham in the oven before church and by the time we came home, the house was filled with that wonderful aroma of fresh pork.
Rarely, today, does anyone cook a fresh picnic. It’s hard to even find one in the meat departments. It seems we’re in a same-old, same-old “pork rut”. It’s either a Boston Butt (shoulder), smoked hams, ribs, chops, lions or maybe a roast.
Earlier this week, I was in Wal-Mart to pick up some bird seed and dropped by their meat department looking for something different. Lo and behold, there was a half of a fresh picnic ham, about the right size for just me and Nancy, so I bought it. Seven bucks, as I recall. We cooked it that night and it was every bit as good as I remembered.
A picnic ham is really not a ham at all. Hams, of course, come from the back leg of a hog and a picnic ham comes from the front leg, below the shoulder. It typically has that great fat crust on top that lends a scrumptious flavor – especially on the meat just beneath the fat. If you’re ever at a whole hog pig-picking, that’s the meat you go for.
While a shoulder (the Boston Butt) is considered a better cut of meat than the picnic (primarily because it’s easier to carve), the picnic is more economical.
The term picnic ham was applied because the cut was considered a good cut for casual dining, such as a picnic, and the term picnic ham stuck.
You will often find smoked picnic hams at the store, but that’s a different animal, not nearly as good as a fresh one.
The only drawback to a fresh picnic that I can see is that it has to be cooked through and through, not just heated like a smoked or cured ham.
But to cook one, all you need do is set the oven at 350, put the fat side up so the juices seep through and cook it about 20 minutes a pound. The thermometer should read 160. You don’t even need to season, just cook it and get it good and done.
If you are fortunate enough to come across a fresh picnic ham, buy it, cook it and you’ll remember just how delicious they are.