Crockpot Ham with Lemon Sauce
Rub thawed 2-4lb uncured ham or shoulder roast with 1Tbl salt and 1tsp ground pepper.
Place roast in a crockpot on low for 4-6hr.
When cooked, drain and reserve the juices.
-Put 1/4C of the resulting juices in a sauce pan and add 1/2 a finely chopped onion or 1 finely chopped leek.
-Cook onion or leek until soft, about 3-5min.
-Add about 1C of the stock juices and 1tsp tarragon. Boil, reducing to 3/4 – 1C, about 5-10min.
-Turn down the heat and add the juice of 1 lemon.
-Stir in 2Tbl butter, bit by bit.
-Taste; if too tart, add 2Tbl maple syrup or brown sugar.
Slice roast and pour sauce all over it, or pass the lemon sauce in a gravy dish.
Garnish with parsley, tarragon, and/or lemon zest.
Pig Anatomy: The ham of a pig is it’s back leg, colored pink in this graphic (Thanks to Rusty Wheel Farm in WA for this image.) Often this portion gets smoked or cured into ham for, say, a Christmas ham or something. Or after being cured, it might be sliced into ham slices. The USDA butcher we use, Smucker’s Meats, uses a nitrate-free solution to cure the ham.
We also got some hams un-cured. On the package they’re listed as ‘Fresh Hams’. Same cut of meat, but no further processing. (For folks cutting out sugar, this is the way you want your hams, as the curing solution, although nitrate-free, does have sugar.)
An un-cured, or fresh ham, can be used in any recipe calling for a roast, or shoulder roast, except for pulled pork. There isn’t as much fat in a ham as a shoulder roast (Boston Butt, or Picnic), so a ham roast doesn’t pull apart as well.
If you follow my recipe blogging on here, you might notice I tend towards warm and savory flavors, like cumin and cinnamon. For this recipe, I wanted something a little lighter (it was a hot week when I tried out this recipe). So although the onions and ham create savory-ness, the lemon and tarragon add lightness. Enjoy!