Las Vegas’ ham consumption continues upward spiral

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 | 8:35 a.m.

Ham is one of the glories of the American table, whether salty country style, Smithfield hams from Virgina, corn-cob smoked ham from Vermont or the sugar-crusted, spiral cut hams that sell in abundance throughout the country.

We eat ham in sandwiches, use it to make a nice bean soup, serve it studded with clove and surrounded by pineapple hot from the oven, as a holiday showpiece.

But roasting and glazing an entire ham takes a lot of work, and many Americans simply do not have the time to deal with it. Because of that, the ham business is burgeoning. Las Vegas has many places at which you can buy one of these already cured, smoked, glazed and spiral-cut beauties, and it is interesting to compare the products:

The Ham Shak

6235 S. Pecos Road No. 106

Barry Ard used to be a manager at Mountain Hams, but three years ago this gentle giant struck out on his own. Today he runs a little sandwich shop and ham store in a southeast Las Vegas neighborhood, where he sells some of the best-tasting ham in the city.

Ard demonstrated how a ham is spiral cut in his back kitchen.

"I use Farmland Pit Hams, an excellent product from Ohio," he said, "which come in already smoked, and have a nice, penetrating hickory flavor. But we do all the glazing and slicing ourselves, and the glaze is a trade secret."

He does allow that there are granulated honey crystals, sugar and spices in his glaze, but that's all he's saying. The spiral cutting machine is really a rotating blade that climbs a rod with a spiral gear, slicing the ham uniformly around the bone as it climbs. The idea is that you pull the meat away from the bone, after you've run the blade of a boning knife between the meat and bone. On Ard's hams, the slices pull away with ease.

Ard recommends heating his hams in a conventional oven at 350 degrees, for about one hour, (or 6-7 minutes per pound) in order to melt the sweet glaze into the slices. It's delicious cold, though, when it has a medium thick crunch, a nice grainy texture and no gristle or discoloration. If you plan to order one for the holidays, better give advance notice. Ard wouldn't disclose the figure, but said that he sells literally thousands during the Christmas season.

Spiral cut ham costs $8.99 per pound, or $5.29 per pound when a half ham or more is purchased.

Village Meat and Wines

5025 S. Eastern Ave.

Tim and Charmayne Jensen run what might just be the best meat shop in town. They are well-known for their prime steaks and homemade sausages, but they also prepare some of the best ham in town, and at a very competitive price.

"I only do between three and 500 hams during the season," says Jensen, offering up a taste of his product. It, too, is delicious, free of gristle, and uniformly grained from side to side. Jensen skins the hams when he gets them, and sells his product as a boneless ham slice.

"That way, you aren't paying for bone, fat or waste," he says.

Jensen also boasts that his hams contain only three muscles, as opposed to other commercial hams that have more mass that is discarded, which enables him to sell at a low price. The Jensens' ham has a sugary, crunchy outside crust, and is not as persistently smoky as the one at Ham Shak. It's a great value, though, and always a pleasure to come to this shop. (Please note that this shop will be closed for two weeks, re-opening Aug. 8.) Spiral cut hams cost $4.98 per pound.

Mountain Hams

4613 Faircenter Parkway 920 S. Rampart Blvd.

Similar to the Ham Shak, this locally owned company also uses wonderful Farmland Pit Hams from Ohio and does all the glazing on premises. The same pervasive hickory smoke taste is present in this ham, and it is a lean, uniform and delicious product. The Faircenter Parkway store is large and spacious, with a lunch counter and tables. This is a great place to come for a sandwich, and the homemade bean soup, laden with chunks of smoky ham, is terrific.

Manager Sabina Traylor was glad to demonstrate how to cut slices away from the bone, by running the point of a sharp knife around the perimeter. Also similar to the Ham Shak, Mountain Hams also gets thousands of orders during the holiday season, and Traylor recommends at least one week notice at that time. Mountain Hams also delivers at a nominal charge, for orders above $25.

Spiral cut mountain ham costs $5.29 per pound, or trimmed, in slices, $9.99 per pound.

Honeybaked Ham

1110 S. Rainbow Blvd. 1533 W. Sunset Road

Honeybaked is the giant of the industry, established way back in 1957, with hundreds of stores scattered all around the United States. It also has the slickest operation, in the sense that it provides a nice little pamphlet with serving instructions, have a website, a sandwich menu, a mail order program, catering and even its own line of porcelain serving pieces.

But the ham's the thing, and though this ham is beloved by many, it's a sweeter, more rubbery ham and not nearly as smoky or grainy as the previous three mentioned. These slices have a thick sugar crust, definitely more glaze than the competition, so if you like that, this is the ham for you.

There's also a good reason for cooks to stop by. Honeybaked sells big, meaty hambones for $4.99, and if you buy two, you get the third free. Spiral cut hams cost $5.29 per pound for half hams or more (7-10 pounds), or 8.99 per pound by the slice.

Such a deal, as they say in the Catskills.