Help, Can't Refreeze Ham

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sparow64 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Bryan's mother works in a kitchen where they defrosted too much ham. They are not allowed to save til the next day, so, instead of throwing it away she brought it to us! Very nice. I have 2 of the really be ziploc bags, of sliced, round, cooked ham that can't be frozen. Have a few days to use it up - for 3 people! Just wondering if anyone has ideas...eating ham every meal with out getting tired of it will be a challenge, but, I think I can do it...I'm sure there are great recipes on here, but don't have much search time right now. If anyone has an idea, please share! Thanks!! :@)

zena824 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
I have a ham and corn souffle recipe that you might be interested in making.....Its good

mrtnzangel8 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
my sis has a good dish you can cook for breakfast, or whenever.. check luvshk, eggs and taters..

pat2me 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Can't Refreeze ham
I have a ham and asparagus chowder in "my recipes" that's really good. Organicmama has the recipe my family uses for scalloped ham and potatoes that's awesome.

Call your county extension service too.........I think after you make some of these dishes up (cooked) that you can freeze them with that ham.

I may be wrong, but give them a call, they will know for sure..........they're a great resource........they'll be listed under whatever county or state you live in in the phone book.

If you really have an abundance of it, your local soup kitchen will gladly take it, especially this time of year.........or maybe someone elderly in your neighborhood that has trouble making meals?

Good luck.

crystalwaters 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Two words: EGGS BENEDICT!! Yummmmmm ... but I did a quick google on leftover ham ... here's a couple of good hits ...

http://southernfood.about.com/cs/hamrecipes/a/hamrecipes.htm

http://busycooks.about.com/od/porkandhamrecipes/tp/leftoverham.htm

http://www.recipetips.com/search-kitchen/leftover-ham/leftover-ham-recipes.asp

:-)

peetabear 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
I've made several soups that use ham and they have frozen beautifully.. might try something like that.

linebb956 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Why?
Why can't you refreeze ham? I do if it is for cooking... I do use a food saver.. does that make the difference? I freeze in cubes in packages large enough for making omelets.. soups.. etc? I saw nothing wrong with it.. Am I wrong here? OMG.. are my toes gonna fall off? LOL!

elle 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
I freeze ham all the time. After Easter, when we have toms of it, or ham steaks from the grocery store, etc.

USDA Link: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/ham/#10

You can scroll up to the top of the page for a lot of ham info, but the chart is filed under the Ham Storage link.

elle 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Sorry, not "toms" of ham, "tons" of ham, lol.

crystalwaters 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Rats, I was all curious about what a TOM of ham was lol!! ;-)

elle 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
You've heard of Tom Turkey, right? This is Tom Ham, lmbo!

sparow64 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Thanks Everyone! Great ideas...

Line...I freeze ham, etc., all they time too, but, have always been taught that you can't REfreeze if it's been cooked...So, does anyone know for sure that it can be refrozen? But, it does appear from a couple of posts that if I cook it in a soup or casserole, etc, that I can freeze that dish...that would work too.
Thanks everyone!!!!

linebb956 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Sparow
Just try it... what are you out... if you don't your going to have to pitch it... U never know unless you try! I freeze cooked ham... all the time.. in fact have some in freezer now. Check out the links elle left... As my Grandma always said..."live and learn!"

sparow64 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
I may try it line...I freeze cooked ham too, but, this ham was cooked, then frozen, then defrosted...we will see. Thanks!!!

pat2me 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Re: Can't refreeze ham
Sparow64,

Did you contact your county extension service? That's one of the reasons they exist. Every county in every state has an extension service.

I think you don't refreeze uncooked ham, but can freeze ham that been cooked , but where food safety is concerned.........talk to the professionals.

The rest of us can speculate until we're blue....they can give you a definitive answer and you won't have to do trial and error and maybe take a chance of getting sick.

linebb956 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
I hardly think re-freezing ham would make you sick... It might throw off the texture.. that is unless you let it sit around for a week... then your on your own... But I would guess that since this thread started 3 days ago... were running out of time!

pat2me 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Re: Ham
Maybe this will help

Can pork be refrozen if it has thawed?
According to the USDA, food thawed in the refrigerator is safe to refreeze without cooking. Moisture loss during thawing may cause a loss in taste quality. After cooking raw food that was previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked food

linebb956 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Brahahaha... it's been 4 days... lets hope the ham is either frozen or eaten!
I surly hope sparow lets us know if she froze the stuff... and if she did.. did it work? Good thing were not doing brain surgery here... the patient would have died! LOL!

Hey Pat... did you know that butchers freeze the meat before they cut it? Makes a better cut.. more even... At least the ones who process our beef, and the one here in our store .. other parts of the world.. could be different.. We can debate that one too! Gotta love this site... right?

pat2me 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Can't Refreeze
It's a wonder we haven't all died from something by now. I don't think any of them know the truth about safe handling of meat.

It's ridiculous!

I was under the impression that sparow was givin this ham on a sort regular basis and also needed the info in the future. I still say ,use what you can and donate the rest.

Any Soup Kitchen in the country would be thankful for the donation this time of year.

sparow64 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
thanks everyone. just a one time donation of the ham. unfortunately, the nearest soup kitchen/homeless shelter is an hour and a half away, and with working 2 jobs, (theonly day I have had off in a month an a half was Thanksgiving), I literally did not have the 3 hours it would take to get there and back. Used most of it, gave the rest away.

according to the National Pork Board, it is ok to freeze uncooked ham, also ok to freeze cooked ham. If uncooked ham is frozen, defrosted in the fridge, then cooked, it could then be frozen after being cooked. In this case, ham that had been frozen, defrosted, cooked, frozen again, the defrosted again, it was questionable. If it had be defrosted in the fridge then it would have been less questionable - we did not know that answer. Anyway, refreezing again was not reccommended for quality and taste, it was not mentioned that it would be dangerous as far as bacteria goes. Good to know, my mom and others have always told me to never refreeze anything, that it would make you sick!

Thanks for all your suggestions. Found lots of new recipes for ham!

pat2me 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Re: Ham
YEAH!!!!!

No more dilemma!

If they'd stop changing the rules about what you can and can't do, it sure woulda been easier!

Merry, Happy Everyone!

sparow64 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
That's true Pat! When I first posted I never even considered that whether or not it could be refrozen was even a question until someone else mentioned it! LOL...I just assumed that what my Mama had always said was right! LOL... oh well, live and learn!!!
Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

linebb956 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Sparow
Your right, you live and learn! My Mom and Grandma used to get up in the middle of the night to put our turkey on... Cooked that puppy forever! Needless to say, I never liked turkey... The first time I cooked it, and followed the directions on the package... It was instant love! Mother in law was running around like a bird, it's not done.. it's not done! Well everyone loved it.. it was done and it was not in strings! So juicy... So to get to the end of this tale.................. Our Mothers can learn from us too! As we will from our children and grand children!

zena824 1 year, 7 months ago said:
RE: Help, Can't Refreeze Ham
Linda there was a time when I first got married I did the same thing... Put my turkey on in the middle of the night and on the lowest temp....cooked that baby for a long time.....ahhaahah we live and learn..

linebb956 1 year, 7 months ago said:
Zena...
I think the older birds... back in the day ... were tougher? Had to be cooked longer? And when the newer birds started hitting the market.. no one changed how they did it.. at least in our family. My Daughters in laws... still do it the old way! String of Breast for dinner! Hey... I just learned how to deep fry a turkey about 5 years ago... now we do both!

dugger 1 year, 6 months ago said:
CRIPES... GET a GRIP
My brother was a Meat Manager for a major grocery chaing here in my home town. I asked him about this. His answer?

You can refreeze any meat that has not been cooked. It may effect the texture when it is defrosted and cooked but as long as it has been kept cold before refreezing it is safe.

You can refreeze cooked meat. It will probably effect the texture when you defrost it. As long as it has not been left out to low temps it is fine.

You can recook anything if you get it hot enough. If you have leftover Ham, even if cooked, and use it in a soup or stew that you bring to 360 F or higher it is totally safe.

linebb956 1 year, 6 months ago said:
Dugger..
Gonna have to slap you before the night is over! Brahahahaha...

Your a day late and a dollor short... The HAM would have spoiled by now!

LOL

Merry Christmas Dugger!

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