Honeybaked Ham???

[Anonymous]

We have about 20 folks coming over for a Mothers Day celebration. Is it worth it to get a spiral ham from the Honeybaked Ham store or is it just as good/tasty to buy a spiral ham from the grocery store??? Basically, is the extra expense of the Honeybaked Ham worth it?? (I checked on line and a whole ham is almost $100; I haven't yet priced the ones in the grocery store.) I like the idea that the Honeybaked Ham only needs to be warmed up (if desired); do the grocery store versions require more prep work before serving?? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I bought one for a school pot luck from Wegmans which was very good. I think it was about $60.00.

[Anonymous]

Don't know about the store ones, but the ones I've had from honeybaked ham are DELICIOUS!!!!! Can I come over?

[Anonymous]

No, it isn't worth it. My MIL always gets one for holidays, and while fine it isn't mindblowing or anything. A cheap ham with a good glaze is better. There's a bourbon-pecan-mustard glaze on epicurious that always dresses up my cheap Safeway hams so that they are better than the honeybaked.

[Anonymous]

Costco usually has something similar.

Honeybaked ham often has coupons in the newspaper before holidays, with the grocery coupons. I don't remember how much of a discount you get though.

[Anonymous]

Honeybaked often has online coupons. Just google it and you'll find them. Also, somewhere online is a review of the various hams. Honeybaked did not come out on top.

I really like Honeybaked, but I'm not sure it's that much better (or even better at all) than some of the grocery store hams. I hear Costco's ham is really good.

[Anonymous]

Smithfield spiral at grocery is just as good as honeybaked.

[Anonymous]

We got a CostCo glazed ham this year for Easter. It was terrible!!! The meat was soooo fatty (even for ham) and the center bone was huge it provided very little meat. I do not recommend CostCo hams.

[Anonymous]

I am SO happy to pass along Monty's Ham Recipe. I first found this recipe in the NY Times many many years ago:

http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/5733/1998/09/30/Montes-Ham/recipe.html

More recently it's been in Saveur magazine:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Montes-Ham

It is the BEST and easiest ham recipe ever to make yourself. My clipped and yellowing NY Times recipe includes more details than you can find on the web, like the fact that you should buy the cheapest ham you can find for this recipe.

Anyhow, if anyone makes it, let me know if you enjoy it as much as I have. I think I've served it at about 50 parties throughout the years and no matter how much I make, it's always gone within half an hour.

[Anonymous]

Okay, here's the background story on Monte's ham:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/daily/saveur-book-review.html

In short:
Monte Mathews, an advertising executive, writes: "When I first came to New York, a friend gave me two pieces of advice: first, if you wear an expensive watch, you can wear anything else you want; second, when you have a lot of people over, buy a cheap ham."

Mathews already had the watch, but he was flummoxed by the ham, until he went to a party and saw hordes of guests tucking into a giant, glistening specimen. Begging his hostess for the secret, she disclosed: "Buy the cheapest ham possible, glaze the hell out of it and cook it for a long time."

Mathews said he has followed the advice several times a year for more than 20 years, never paying more than 99 cents a pound for a bone-in ham (not the canned kind). As a cheap-ham hunter, I was no match for Mathews.

I settled on an Esskay "water added" ham for $2.89 a pound. Cooked to his instructions, it was served to a group of 10 with professed discerning palates. (In truth, cut in half-inch slices, the ham would serve 30 or more.)

They went crazy for Monte's ham, clamoring for seconds and thirds, grabbing nubbins from the platter and boldly demanding to take home the leftovers. The big, deeply bronzed beauty was truly delicious -- succulent and moist on the inside, sweetly glazed and crisp on the outside -- although I can't help thinking how good it might have been with a genuinely cheap ham.

[Anonymous]

We always suspected the business was a drug front.

[Anonymous]

We got a CostCo glazed ham this year for Easter. It was terrible!!! The meat was soooo fatty (even for ham) and the center bone was huge it provided very little meat. I do not recommend CostCo hams.

ITA! Thought I was the only one. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

I thought that my grocery ham at easter tasted fine, although we like to glaze our own. (That was the cheap kind, not the Smithfield hams sold in the store). But the spiral cut wasn't great. I like how the Honeybaked Hams are cut well so it's easier to serve. That said, you can always save the money and put a little effort into cutting it off the bone. It's not a hardship or anything, but it's nice to have a good spiral cut if people are serving themselves at a buffet.

[Anonymous]

I love the Barefoot Contessa Virginia Ham glaze. Takes just a minute to make, and I get raves every time I serve it (using supermarket hams).

[Anonymous]

I think the Honeybaked Hams are consistently better than the supermarket hams, although I'll admit I've never had Wegman's. And they are plug n play, ready to go. No cooking, glazing, cutting necessary. I've NEVER had a bad HB ham.