SRF Ham ..... Wowza!

Conclusion:  Buttery rich flavor that will forever change how you look at ham!  I will definitely be ordering these for special meals!  Amazing texture and flavor. 

Main Review:
As some of you know, a few of us got lucky last week and @SRFShane sent a few half hams out.  The one catch, cook it and post a few pics before March 15th.

I had very high expectations for the ham.  So much so, I figured it had a good chance to not meet them.  Really, how much better can ham get than locally raised, freshly processed and smoked?  My last 4 or 5 hams for the holidays have been hams from local farms and smoked by the local Shriners club.  They are amazing.

Well, I just found something better.  The SRF Kurobuta Bone-In Ham absolutely blew me away.  It tasted more like something off a dessert menu than a main course.  I'm not sure how to describe the taste other than heavenly.  Imagine all the wonderful buttery rich flavor in an entire pig distilled down into a single ham.  Lets just say it was so good we collected the fat I trimmed off the kids pieces (they refuse to eat fat) and put it in a ziplock bag and in the freezer.  I will use the fat to season beans, chilli, are anything else I cook in a pot.




I followed this recipe for cooking the ham:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/12/sous-vide-city-ham-with-balsamic-brown-sugar-glaze-recipe.html

My plan was to Sous vide for 3hrs, but life got in the way and it was in the sous vide for 8hrs.  I left it in the factory vacuum pack.  Usually when you sous vide a store bought meat product there is a ton of juice in the bag when you are done.  Lots of processors inject brines, juices, etc.  These seem to pour out when you sous vide.  There was surprisingly little liquid that escaped when I removed the ham in preparation for the egg.  The literature said their ham only has natural juices from itself.  When you buy a 7-8lb ham from SRF it looks like you get 7-8lbs of ham, not a bunch of injected juices.



While the ham was in the hot tub I made some of the brown sugar and balsamic.  Actually, turbinado, molasses, and balsamic.  This was a near disaster.  I poured the entire cup of room temp balsamic into the liquified sugar and molasses mix.  Well, guess what happened?  My mix bubbled up and then solidified in the shape of a giant exploding bubble!  Luckily nobody got hurt.  30 minutes later I had the mix fully liquified and ready for the glaze.



Before I put the ham on the egg I sliced a small piece off to sample.  I almost didn't put it on the egg after that.  It was that good.  I actually giggled to myself as I ate it.  

Here is the ham after just fifteen minutes in a 550 degree egg and 3 applications of glaze.





15 minutes crisped the skin and put a beautiful glaze on the ham.



Sliced and ready to serve



Finally, plated.  The sugary glaze paired really well with the ham.  It actually cut some of the richness a bit and just made an amazing ham that much better!



I had a friend who has wondered about SRF.  He wanted to know my thoughts as soon as I tried it.  I offered him a few slices to try.  I had to slice and hide them from the family, for fear of him not getting any!  He was like a kid at Christmas.  It was fun to share such a wonderful ham!



In the end, the price seemed high, retail $119 before I tried it.  After eating it, I fully expect to be ordering some on my own dime.  My wife whole heartedly agreed!

Thank you @SRFShane for donating the ham on the "Pay it Forward" thread!  It was one of the best things I have ever cooked!