Ramblings of M Nut: Ham Streak and "best by" dates on cans

Hello loyal follower(s)

      Yesterday I ate part of a can of Mandarin Orange sections that had a "best by" date of Jan 19, 2010, and did not get sick.  Coincidentally, in the new issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine (March - April 2012 issue: page 2) the real shelf life of can goods was discussed.  "Best by" indicates peak quality as determined by the manufacturer.  "In theory, as long cans are in good shape and have been stored under the right conditions (dry place between 40 and 70 degrees) their contents should remain safe indefinitely",
   I was going to eat part of  a can of  pineapple chunks that had a "best by" date in 2007 but it had a bad color and strange odor, not appetizing but safe to eat, but not by me.
     
 We had a ham steak and wanted to fix it in a special way;  Consulting CooksIllustrated.com for ideas, yielded no recipes.  But allrecipes.com yielded  several recipes. Cook's Illustrated is a great magazine because it discusses the development process involved in creating a good recipe.  However, it's recipes tend to call for unusual or strange ingredients.  The magazine is a real aid to beginning cooks such as myself.

 I choose one recipe from allrecipes.com and of course made a small change. The recipe called for pineapple slices.  I preferred chunks.

The ham steak was just a little to large for browning in a large oven proof skillet.
Therefore, it took a skillet to brown the steak and a cake pan to finish off the recipe.

Here the steak with the pineapple and the glaze was ready for the oven.

The steak is done in this picture.  Along with the steak we had scalloped potatoes (blog of November 20, 2011) and i make no errors this time with the potatoes.  And for vegetables (and color) we had steamed carrots and peas.  It was a easy meal to prepare.


I am running out of time, because it is nap time and then we are going to friends home for dinner.

Recipe follows for simple ham steak:

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Ham Slice with Pineapple-Orange Sauce

 From allrecipes.com Submitted By: Ruth Andrewson

INGREDIENTS:

1  fully cooked ham steak (about 1/2 inch thick)

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 (8 ounce) can unsweetened pineapple chunks

1/3 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cider or white wine vinegar

dash ground ginger

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a skillet, brown ham in butter. 
2. Place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. 
3. Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set juice aside. 
4. Place pineapple over ham; set aside.
5. In a saucepan, combine orange juice, brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, ginger and reserved pineapple juice; mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
6. Pour over ham and pineapple. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until ham is heated through.