NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
June 15, 2000
A TV news program recently focused on the cost of weddings. One of the supposed wedding experts featured on the show said it's not all that difficult for couples to spend $15,000 on their big day. The most costly category is the food, much of which nowadays is catered.
My wife, Nicki, and I have been married for almost 24 years, and I haven't seen her wedding dress since Aug. 21, 1976. It was a Saturday, and it was hot. I was nervous and glad to be done with it all. And I don't think I'm alone in my wedding-day experience. If I'm right, there are probably a lot of people (especially the parents of newlyweds-to-be) who might be thinking there are better ways to spend money than on a splashy reception.
It's not that I'm against having fun, but I am opposed to spending excessively, especially when some forethought about food could perhaps save hundreds of dollars, which might be better spent on the honeymoon.
If the reception is going to be staged at a hotel or the food served by a caterer, it might be a good idea to meet with the banquet chef or caterer well in advance and be flexible about the types of goodies your guests will receive. Professional chefs love to be creative in inexpensive ways because food is money in the foodservice biz. So, ask for some ideas on fanciful-yet-frugal appetizers, hors d'oeuvres and other types of less-expensive finger foods.
Here's an idea to get you started. Instead of serving hand-carved roast beef in the buffet line, why not offer several chafing dishes full of fork-tender chuck roast. How to make chuck roast tender? By braising, sort of. Brown both sides of the chunk and then pour enough cola (not diet) over the meat to cover it by 1 or 2 inches. Cook it uncovered for several hours until the meat forks easily and most of the soda has cooked away. Soda pop on beef? Yes, and then serve the beef, made dark and sweet from the cola, with slices of rye bread and a spicy mustard.
The recipe that follows is an another example of how a less-expensive cut of meat, a picnic ham perhaps, can seem like a delicacy du jour.
Glazed Ham
(Adapted from a recipe appearing in "The Original 1896 Fanny Farmer Cook Book.")
Yield: 8 servings (about 2 tablespoons each)Ingredients:
2 teaspoons butter
1/3 cup currant jelly
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1/8 teaspoon ground mustard
dash hot pepper sauce
1 cup ground hamProcedure:
In a small saucepan, melt butter and jelly and then add sherry, mustard, pepper sauce and ham. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a chafing dish and serve by allowing guests to spoon mixture onto crackers or toast points.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
Ham has always been a personal favorite, so much so that I chose it for my wedding reception. This century-old recipe shows that tasty food can be timeless. A serving of Glazed Ham contains about 80 calories and 2.6 grams of fat.
Rich in the minerals iron and zinc, pork is also especially plentiful in thiamin (vitamin B-1), which helps our bodies release the energy from food. Because of significant changes in hog production during the past 50 years, pork's fat-to-lean ratio has shrunk. In other words, pork is a much leaner meat today.
Pork is now the world's most widely eaten meat, probably due to its popularity in China. A 3-ounce serving of ham is about the size of a deck of cards, and it provides one-third of the protein requirement for males and 45 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for thiamin--all for only 140 calories.
Hams are available as fresh or "cured." Cured meats usually contain flavor-adding sugar and nitrite, which inhibits the growth of Clostridium botulinum, the organism that causes botulism. Salt is an important curing ingredient. Salt adds flavor and also inhibits bacterial growth.
Of course, salt makes ham and other cured meats higher in sodium than uncured meats, although pork is cured with 50 percent less salt than 20 years ago. Even so, people on sodium-restricted diets may need to limit their consumption of ham and other cured meats based on the advice of their health professional.
Convenient and popular, boneless hams have most fat trimmed away prior to cooking. Canned boneless hams are cooked after they are vacuum sealed. Bone-in hams include whole hams, shank and butt portions. If the words "fully cooked" appear on the label, the ham requires no further cooking, but if the words "cook before eating" appear, the products should be heated to at least 160 F for safety and to ensure the best eating quality.
To save money on your selection, consider cost per serving instead of cost per pound. For example, a boneless ham will cost more per pound than a bone-in ham, but a boneless ham will provide four to five servings per pound while bone-in hams will provide only two to three servings per pound.
While it's tempting to leave leftover ham on the countertop for grazers, it's been associated with many outbreaks of "staph," a type of foodborne illness linked with high-protein foods, even salty ones. Staphylococcus aureus is a type of bacteria commonly carried on our hands, in our noses and in infected cuts. The flu-like symptoms show up within one to six hours after eating the contaminated food and could be very serious for the young, the old or those with compromised immune systems. Avoiding getting sick from staph is a good motivation for washing hands and refrigerating leftovers within two hours of preparation.
Finally, remember that ham does not freeze well because changes in texture and flavor can occur, so if freezing is necessary, wrap the meat well and store it at 0 F or lower for no longer than two months. But it's likely you won't have to worry about leftovers of Glazed Ham.
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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