cooking Canned Ham

The label on Hormel's Black Label ham says fully cooked, but it's so much better after cooking in the oven awhile.






-Preheat your oven to 325º.
-Cut the ham lengthwise to allow the center to cook more thoroughly, and turn one half around so the centers aren't touching.

-Add about 1/3 c. water, and cover loosely with aluminum foil.  This prevents the top from getting burnt-looking. 

-Put the lid of your casserole dish on, and into the oven it goes!
If you don't have a lid, just cover tightly with foil.
 
I like to cook mine for about 1 hour, 15 minutes, then turn the oven OFF for about 3 hours.  This is the best cook time in my opinion, and I've even done it when headed to church on Sunday morning, and reheated the ham along with any casseroles I have prepared.

If you don't have that much time, I would cook the ham about 2 hours, and leave the oven OFF for an hour.

You can vary back and forth between the cook and OFF times, and even cook it for 2½ hours straight.
But the longer it gets to slow-cook while the oven is turned OFF, the better.
If you don't care for it being so juicy, right after re-heating, drain some of the liquid before it has time to soak back into the ham as the ham cools.

Ham and Swiss (or Provolone) Cheese Rolls

Yummy, and doesn't take too long, either.  My mother-in-law had given me the recipe a long time ago, using the tiny rolls.  Then recently, my sister-in-law made them at our house using regular dinner rolls.  =)

• 12 dinner rolls, already baked. 
  
• 4 rectangle slices of ham, or 12 thin round slices (like Land O' Lakes) 
• 8 oz. package of cheese of your choice (I like Provolone)
• 1 stick of butter
• 2 t. mustard
• 1 T. poppy seeds
• 1½ T. minced onion/onion flakes 
• 2 t. Worcestershire sauce 

-Preheat oven to 350°.

-Melt butter in microwavable bowl.  

-Add poppy seeds, minced onion, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.

►Or leave the poppy seeds until last and sprinkle on top. 

-Using a serrated knife, slice open all the rolls, placing the bottom halves in large pan.  
-Thinly (make that butter go far!) spread one-half  the mixture on the open bottom half of the rolls, being sure to get the edges.

-With a pizza cutter, cut the ham to fit on the rolls.  

If rectangle-shaped ham, you can cut it in half lengthways, then cut each half into thirds.  I use 2 layers of ham per roll (so 1 rectangle slice for three rolls).  Stack and cut several slices at a time.

If thin round ham, I just kinda fold a third of it over, then bring the side over.  It looks kinda like a triangle with a rounded bottom edge. 

Not sure what shape/size your cheese will be, so just break it up to fit the rolls.  For provolone, I use 1 slice for 2 rolls.  I break off top and side to leave enough for 1 roll, then break and fit the edge pieces on the next roll. 

-Put on the roll "lids," and spread remaining mixture across rolls.

-Sprinkle on poppy seeds if you did not include them in the butter mixture. 

►Cover with tin foil, and bake at 350º for 18-20 minutes.

Some people like to put it all together a day ahead, then bake the day of.  
This lets the butter soak in more. 

GREAT with potato salad and baked beans.  =)