Ham loaf is a Pennsylvania Dutch comfort food. Add a favorite side dish of scalloped potatoes and some corn or green beans and you will get that warm fuzzy filling, at least in our area.
This particular ham loaf recipe is a version from a local Himmel’s Church cookbook, submitted by Norma Kauffman. Some church cookbooks have some of the best recipes! If a local church in your area sells them as a fundraiser, like churches in our area do from time to time, never hesitate to pick up a copy. That’s how you’ll get all the best secret family recipes!
My husband works at a local meat market and they make the meat mixture. It includes equal parts ground ham and ground pork mixed together. Sometimes you can buy it mixed together or you may have to purchase each ground meat separately and mix it together yourself. If you can, support your local butcher. That’s how you’ll get the freshest ground meat for your ham loaf. live in the country and I am spoiled because my local meat market is across the street from my house!
Here are the ingredients: ground ham and ground pork mixed together, bread crumbs, egg, milk, brown sugar, crushed pineapples and reserved juice, vinegar and yellow mustard.
First, make the “loaf.” Drain the pineapples and reserve the juice for sauce. Set them aside.
Soak the bread crumbs in milk together for a few minutes. Then, stir them into the ham loaf mixture (ground ham and ground pork) with the egg. Add about half of the of pineapples and mix well to combined all of the ingredients.
Pat the mixture into a loaf pan and top with the remaining pineapples.
In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, pineapple juice, vinegar, and yellow mustard.
Pour the sauce over the loaf mixture and bake at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
When the ham loaf is baked remove from oven and let rest about 10 minutes so the juices distribute throughout and make in nice and moist. Cut the loaf into slices and serve with the left over sauce spooned over it. Yum!
- 1 pound ground ham
- 1 pound ground pork
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- ½ cup milk
- 1 8 ounce can of crushed pineapples
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup vinegar
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- Drain pineapples and reserve juice for sauce.
- Soak bread crumbs with milk for about 5 minutes.
- Add ham loaf mixture ( ground ham and ground pork) and mix.
- Stir in ½ of the crushed pineapples.
- Pat into a standard loaf pan and pour remaining pineapples over loaf.
- Whisk the brown sugar, pineapple juice, vinegar and yellow mustard together.
- Pour sauce over loaf.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 1½ hours.
- Remove from oven when done and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting into slices. Any sauce left in the bottom of the pan can be poured over slices.
Sharon
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