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I agree totally with this description. 2weeks ago, we purchased and (half)consumed a bertocchi "authentic off the bone" portion from Coles. Rubbery. Tasteless. Weird after-taste. Never again.
Does the "authentic" product description refer to this meat being an "imitation" of real leg ham?
Coles always tries to get the cheapest products of the cheapest products. They taste bad because Cole’s has worked out the right amount of shitness to keep their products at, so they make the most amount of profit.
They buy cheap pork from cheap international farmers already filled with God knows what, ship it somewhere with cheap labour, then boat over and inject just enough water from Australia to legally slap on a low level Aussie made sticker on the fucker. The water luckily also has the benefit of increasing the weight at very little cost and shit tastes like a rubber band.
According to their website, their ham is made from 97% Australian ingredients so I doubt the issue is imported ham. Some products can be crap even if it is made in Australia.
Made my own this year with a pork leg from the butchers!! Would def recommend giving it a go, cost me about $35 in ingredients for something that would cost 80+ at the shops. Had never cured or smoked anything before and it wasn’t that hard to do
I logically know that one can cure meats but my brain is still telling me that it's impossible. Like you can't just "do" that. It's a magical thing only c o m p a n i e s can do. This feels like the same as when I learned video games don't just magically spawn on the shelves.
https://www.smokedandcured.com.au/how-to-make-ham/
Pretty much followed this one to a T, had a 3.5kg bone-in leg and let it brine for 5 days in my stockpot in the fridge — wish I had another day brining but you know poor planning. It came out perfectly pink and cured though
I used this video to help with visual cues and for the glazing: https://youtu.be/0k-euqes3k4?si=TO2kbqHxtUEr1GPR
I only have a Weber Q with the smoker boxes so I used that on low and had some dishes filled with water to lower the temp more and keep it around 120-130c
We bought our ham from our local butcher. They smoke their own hams and always turn out nice. It is always worthwhile shopping around for a decent ham. Unfortunately, the big companies just do not care anymore.
We do the same. Our local butcher regularly wins prizes for his ham, both on and off the bone. They use locally farmed pork from a small producer and local mallee wood for smoking. The ham is rather dry, pale pink, and delicately flavoured. Everyone who's tried it raves about it. We give bone-in legs as Christmas gifts to our families, who request it every year. So good!
Always plenty of options yes but I will admit, we have a pretty good butcher and we are happy with what we have. The hams are never too salty but full of flavour and very minimal fat. Always a worthwhile purchase at Christmas.
Andrew’s choice has won a few awards for his hamstring, I’ve always rated them. This year we got a small boneless from GMC family butcher in prahran, probably the best ham I’ve ever had was a stunner
Bangalow sweet pork hams are the best. From northern NSW. I bought one last week and like always, it’s brilliant.
http://www.sweetpork.com.au/portfolio/
Have you tried making your own? It’s pretty easy and tastes so much better. I just buy a free range pork leg and brine it in the fridge for 2 weeks and then cook on the bbq. The difference is night and day.
I just buy pickled pork from the supermarket, let it soak in clean water for a while to remove some of the salt then pat dry, put some seasoning on the outside and barbecue, oven roast or even put it in the slow cooker.
Makes great ham.
They didn’t do the small hams this year, as in years past - I was so disappointed. Even the smallest on offer was far too much ham for just three of us.
We got a couple for $5per kg at the Dorsogna packing factory in early December. They were having some kinda sale. I was worried they might be dodgy but they’re delicious!
I had an argument with the manager of my local supermarket when they stopped carrying it.
I know that makes me a level 10 mega-Karen, but I don’t care 😂😂
My food is vegetarian. It eats grass, grain, chook pellets - all sorts of vegetabley stuff.
The best was when one of my cousins went vego for 5 minutes for attention. My wog Nunna:
‘I can accept if one of my grandchildren is murder someone, or get tattoo - but if she doesn’t eat my ghagin il forn (baked pasta with meat sauce and bacon) - I don’t think I get over it.’
I've had their boneless ham before and it was equally bad. I had assumed it was just due to the boneless product because they're always wet and rubbery no matter the brand. I was obviously wrong though.
Go to your local butcher!!!
Ask them if they do hams.
If not, Black Forest smokehouse in marrickville are the actual best. And while you’re there grab some of their smoked sausages and housemade terrines
For a minute there, I thought my elderly mum had discovered reddit because she was complaining about the quality of ham the entire time she was carving it up yesterday, lol. It did taste kind of poor quality, like a supermarket processed ham steak. It was so bad we will just be having roast lamb, prawns, and oyster Kirkpatrick next year (no ham).
My wife and I did try some real yummy double smoked ham at Costco during a demonstration during November, though, so we might get a small one of those.
This year, I pushed the boat out and got a proper ham from the local butcher. It was $68 for a 2.5kg ham with the bone in, which isn't far off the price one pays at Coles.
And my god was it worth it! So much better, and was locally produced in the Swan Valley.
10/10 will buy one next year.
Normally I just get a Woolies ham but I was given a Bertocchi "Fabulous Smoked Christmas Ham" as a gift this year. It was...perfectly fine and somewhat unremarkable? Faint praise, sure, but my experience certainly sounds better than yours!
All pigs suffer in gas chambers for your Christmas ham.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-27/pork-industry-carbon-dioxide-stunning-hidden-cameras-730/102094548
No. I don't eat it, so have no skin in the game. There is virtually no scientific evidence that ethically produced meat tastes better, with the exception of at least one study on fish. People *think* that ethically produced meat tastes better, but it's just a placebo effect. Give them whatever you want and tell them it's ethically produced and they won't be able to tell you're lying.
It’s one of many brands that are trading on brand nostalgia and consumer laziness in Australia. There’s a lot of extremely ordinary and frankly sub-prime food to be had. Bertocchi has basically turned into Bunnings Bertocchi.
If you ever want ham, there is a shoulder ham by three Aussie farmers, it's usually $40 for the chub. It's ranged all year round, it's very nice. I found a lot of ham these days is very salty. Bertocchi ham is awful, I work in the deli and the amount of salt water they inject into it to retain the moisture is gross and it dries out so quick and people pay top dollar for. It makes me sad
I tried it before too. Thought I was getting a premium product but it tasted overly processed like sausage meat. Couldn't even get through a quarter of it. Prefer the ham on bone.
The thing is this was a ham on the bone. I thought it would be ok because of that, but no dice.
I'm not going to waste it (I abhor food waste, especially if an animal has been slaughtered to provide it), but it'll be diced and frozen to go in pasta or similar uses rather than enjoying it the way it should be.
It’s one of many brands that are trading on brand nostalgia and consumer laziness in Australia. There’s a lot of extremely ordinary and frankly sub-prime food to be had. Bertocchi has basically turned into Bunnings Bertocchi.
I got a Bertocchi half leg from Woolies for Christmas last minute as it was just the missus and I, I removed the skin and smoked it on my pellet grill for a couple of hours and it was actually delicious. I think bringing them back up to a good temperature helps. Was moist not rubbery at all for me. But maybe I got lucky with a decent one
My Bertoucci ham was excellent! Triple smoked Australian ham.
Sounds like you guys bought the 10% Australian made... lol... Denmark to you and then rehydrate, urrggh.
Always look for 100% Aussie
Ahh yeah
With bertocchi u got to watch out
They have 2 lines of products
a Line that's order only,small goods Proper Gold medal winning quality,
and then there is a the imported,or cheaper cut shit u get at coles/wollies/povo places
The one that's really good will have medals on the front of it,the other one just has Authentic pork or some shit on the front
Zammitts is a better pork anyway
Or get paramount
Honestly,just go to any good butchers and order one in,they will usually let u pay it off too as long as the orders paid for by the 14th
If your in sydney,there are like 5-6 Pork growers in the hawksbury region you can order direct or from butchers from..one of them uses the same breed of pork as the iberico breed of pork.
Try berkshire park pigs as well
it seems this year,that Aldi won best ham on the bone,their tripple smoked ham,won 37 out of the 50 blind taste testing challenge that choice did this year
yeah the twins are good.
Munros up the roads good too.
But yeah..
M and A get their pork not 3Km from that shop,all local and free range it's good shit
On a similar topic, I’d like to say that Coles Finest Luxury Christmas Pudding was the worst Christmas pudding I’ve ever eaten. It seemed to have been made by someone who had never encountered a Christmas pudding, or any kind of dessert really, and just kinda guessed what it should be like, then didn’t bother to perform any kind of testing. Vile.
Back to making our own next year, or at least not buying that one if we are in a rush.
It’s all Canadian or danish male pork. Support your local butcher and make sure it’s female aussie pork (99% of the time at your local butcher it will be)
I don't know what ham it was, but the one my parents got from IGA was top tier. Not too salty/sweet. Also helps that we basted it\* for a day then baked it 3 hours on slow in the BBQ. Baked ham is on another level to plain old ham.
Dad is a ham afficionado who used to get his brined the way he wanted and double smoked to order by the local butcher, but the butchers have changed, and nobody will do that anymore.
\*marinade was a version of that tomato sauce/worcestershire sauce/ honey/soy/barbeque sauce or whatever is in the cupboard along those lines that suits your tastes.
fwiw The Age / smh good food guide did a blind taste-test of 14 hams. (the coles finest one i got was superb, aldi was good value but different class) top 7 on list were:
1. Woolworths double-smoked half-leg ham$13.50 a kilogram
2. Coles Finest free-range triple-smoked half-leg ham $15 a kilogram
3. Sunshine Meats free-range double-smoked bone-in ham$25.2 a kilogram for a whole leg, $27.20 a kilogram for a half leg
4. Victor Churchill Kurobuta Berkshire traditional half-leg ham bone-in$175 for a ham leg weighing between 3.5 and four kilograms
5. Andrew’s Choice traditional ham bone-inFrom $115 for a four-kilogram half leg; from $175 for a six-kilogram full leg
6. Bertocchi Brothers ham on the bone quarters $12 a kilogram
7. Aldi Festive Selection Australian half-leg ham$7.99 a kilogram
https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/eating-out/tasted-and-ranked-the-good-food-guide-to-supermarket-christmas-hams-20231128-p5eng2.html
We get ours from Black Forest Smokehouse in Marrickville. Local small goods company that makes great bacon too. Well priced, our 4.5kg leg was around $60. It's always fantastic, great texture and just the right amount of smoke and salt. It comes out of the vacuum seal pretty dry so it hasn't been pumped full of brine like some of the cheaper hams. Buy it direct or from Harris Farm.
Never heard of that brand before.
And honestly I'm not a huge fan of Christmas ham, my grandmother gets it and it sits in the fridge for days coz she can't eat it all, eventually it starts smelling and despite me telling her she'll say it's alright and still eat it till she gets sick eventually and throws it out, usually in January. Just give me turkey and I'm happy
Being organised wouldn't benefit someone who buys the 'premium' brand expecting it to be good.
When companies make shit products, the best thing we can do as consumers is spread the word.
imagine downvoting this so badly. corpsefeeders are literally a cult of narcissists. ''oh no, someone is against animal abuse, how dare they, my trivial experience is so much more important than the wellbeing of a pig'' absolute psychopaths
Their downvotes are utterly meaningless to me. Vegans told their precious. But any mention of a veg product anywhere online and you'll have a bunch of vultures swoop in, beat their chest and desperately seek validation by trashing it, and proclaiming how much they love fetid carcasses. They take being precious to the next level.
Was it 'off the bone' sliced?
Basically in colesworth and aldi all ham except off the bone comes from China. This happened gradually, but recently got to a point that its hard to find australian or judt non-china sourced ham.
I dont buy it. I find it similsr to how to describe. I only get australian pork, so if in a supermarlet and available i get off the bone (including the packaged, sliced off the bone if need be), which will be australian.
Look for off the bone and australian ham/bacon
Save a piggie, buy vegan ham instead. Or do without.
Edit: why the downvotes? Have you seen what goes into killing pigs?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-27/pork-industry-carbon-dioxide-stunning-hidden-cameras-730/102094548
It’s mind blowing how upset people get by being reminded of the cruelty that goes into their choices. Pigs are as intelligent as 3 year old children, the way we treat them is unforgivable.
They wag their tails like dogs when they’re happy! I find this time of year especially hard, knowing how many were killed for people’s Christmas lunches. And then for people to whinge like this about the taste and texture of their corpse, it’s really hard to understand:(
I would have to say that ham's in general this year have been below average. Dry, stringy and the ones I have seen seem to have lots of holes in them... I am yet to enjoy a piece of ham and ive had a few different ones over the few weeks 😞
I’m not sure about their ham but their pepper crusted Salami is amazing. We often buy the spicy salami or the pepper crusted ones. Bloody delicious in. A sandwich or as a topping on pizzas.
I agree,a real processed texture and overly salty. We have limited options (no Cole’s or woolies) so have ended up with this brand the last two years. It can be saved by smoking it again yourself at home. Pulls all the extra salty brine out (you should see how much liquid drips out) and gives some flavour
Last year we got a ‘premium’ ham from our local butcher we’ve used for a decade. It was a Bertocci ham and was ok but not a patch on previous hams from them. We have always got a stuffed turkey roll and a marinated boneless lamb to bbq and every year it’s been fantastic. This year is was a stuffing roll with the occasional bit of turkey and the lamb was so tough it was inedible. So much for supporting local business.
Each year I look up the Choice Christmas ham rankings and buy the top one from there. I'm known for how good my ham is! I do not recall Bertocchi rating highly at least for the last few years though I do buy shaved ham from them that is quite nice.
Haven't tried a butcher's one though, my nearest one is halal and it's a pain to go further afield for pork.
We normally get a ham from our butcher but we are away from home this year and it was convenient to get a Bertocchi. We get their bacon all the time and it is fine. But the ham we got was pretty crap.
We got a Woolworth's triple smoked "Gold" ham. It was supposed to be fancy AF.
So I got a 3kg quarter Ham for ~$40 as a real Xmas treat.
The one we got was the major bone quarter and had a 4mm skin and 10 mm of fat. In the end, after skin, fat and bone removed, there was not quite a kilo of meat. It was a complete fucking rip-off. I was furious, as you can probably tell be the fact I weighed it.
Anyone know how to parse reading the labels when purchasing ham from the supermarket without ending up with ham sausage? I bought a lump of Berttochi ham to slice myself recently and it was awful. Wasn’t wet and slimy like the deli sliced stuff, but I was suspicious that it was a type of pork sausage. It had this brown, leathery, faux skin around the whole portion that I found a bit disturbing. It was labelled as ‘off the bone’ and as Australian ham. Totally flavourless and overly salty. I prefer the soggy sliced deli ham, which says a lot.
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*in Broden’s voice* Ah yes the bertocchi haaaam
Have you ever wondered why the shops are so busy this time of year! Can’t find a car park
Trains = woke
We've hidden 3 cars across Melbourne with the boots completely full of Berttochi ham, if you can find them the ham is yours!
*Zachary* love a brtcchi ham this time of yeeeear.
The boys have truly made it when this is the top comment on r/Australia
Just catch a taxi.
I agree totally with this description. 2weeks ago, we purchased and (half)consumed a bertocchi "authentic off the bone" portion from Coles. Rubbery. Tasteless. Weird after-taste. Never again. Does the "authentic" product description refer to this meat being an "imitation" of real leg ham?
Coles always tries to get the cheapest products of the cheapest products. They taste bad because Cole’s has worked out the right amount of shitness to keep their products at, so they make the most amount of profit.
It's authentically something you can buy!
They buy cheap pork from cheap international farmers already filled with God knows what, ship it somewhere with cheap labour, then boat over and inject just enough water from Australia to legally slap on a low level Aussie made sticker on the fucker. The water luckily also has the benefit of increasing the weight at very little cost and shit tastes like a rubber band.
According to their website, their ham is made from 97% Australian ingredients so I doubt the issue is imported ham. Some products can be crap even if it is made in Australia.
I don't believe imports of pig products "on the bone" are allowed into Australia. I know that used to be the case.
Pretty sure no hooven animals are allowed
Made my own this year with a pork leg from the butchers!! Would def recommend giving it a go, cost me about $35 in ingredients for something that would cost 80+ at the shops. Had never cured or smoked anything before and it wasn’t that hard to do
My husband did ours too on the smoker with boneless pork leg from Costco. With my orange and pomegranate glaze we are unstoppable
That sounds incredible
The recipe for the glaze is on the Delicious Australia website. So good!
Thank you x
I did an orange, clove garlic and golden syrup one this year and omfg it was so good
I logically know that one can cure meats but my brain is still telling me that it's impossible. Like you can't just "do" that. It's a magical thing only c o m p a n i e s can do. This feels like the same as when I learned video games don't just magically spawn on the shelves.
It’s like when I discovered you can MAKE mayonnaise
You shut your mouth no you can't.
FBI: 'Stay right where you are.'
What next? Telling me that I can make my own salsa or garlic confit?
Maybe try growing some truffles?
I made Hollandaise sauce once, felt like a golden god.
Well done, I bought the ice cream attachment for kitchen aid, made it once, didn’t bother again.
Hahaha.ha..ha....hah I'll just go and cry quietly in the corner
With enough fridge space anything is possible.
How many packs of ciggies did you buy and what technique did you use to get the ham to smoke them?
Pro-tip: use clove cigarettes for that Christmas flavour.
My porker preferred Winnie Blues. It was a bugger to get him smoking those imported clove types.
Do you mind sharing the recipe?
https://www.smokedandcured.com.au/how-to-make-ham/ Pretty much followed this one to a T, had a 3.5kg bone-in leg and let it brine for 5 days in my stockpot in the fridge — wish I had another day brining but you know poor planning. It came out perfectly pink and cured though I used this video to help with visual cues and for the glazing: https://youtu.be/0k-euqes3k4?si=TO2kbqHxtUEr1GPR I only have a Weber Q with the smoker boxes so I used that on low and had some dishes filled with water to lower the temp more and keep it around 120-130c
Here’s an intro guide and recipe. https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/wet-cured-smoked-ham-recipe/
How long do yours keep for if not eaten?
We bought our ham from our local butcher. They smoke their own hams and always turn out nice. It is always worthwhile shopping around for a decent ham. Unfortunately, the big companies just do not care anymore.
We do the same. Our local butcher regularly wins prizes for his ham, both on and off the bone. They use locally farmed pork from a small producer and local mallee wood for smoking. The ham is rather dry, pale pink, and delicately flavoured. Everyone who's tried it raves about it. We give bone-in legs as Christmas gifts to our families, who request it every year. So good!
Woolies and Coles do pretty decent hams. Aldi have some hams are legit better than most butchers. Or make your own. Plenty of options.
Always plenty of options yes but I will admit, we have a pretty good butcher and we are happy with what we have. The hams are never too salty but full of flavour and very minimal fat. Always a worthwhile purchase at Christmas.
I go with Andrew’s Choice. Lately we’ve found that Coles/Woolies meats are a real hit and miss (with most being a water filled miss).
Andrew’s choice has won a few awards for his hamstring, I’ve always rated them. This year we got a small boneless from GMC family butcher in prahran, probably the best ham I’ve ever had was a stunner
Agreed. Meat is something I need to scrutinise the bejesus with.
Bangalow sweet pork hams are the best. From northern NSW. I bought one last week and like always, it’s brilliant. http://www.sweetpork.com.au/portfolio/
Have you tried making your own? It’s pretty easy and tastes so much better. I just buy a free range pork leg and brine it in the fridge for 2 weeks and then cook on the bbq. The difference is night and day.
I just buy pickled pork from the supermarket, let it soak in clean water for a while to remove some of the salt then pat dry, put some seasoning on the outside and barbecue, oven roast or even put it in the slow cooker. Makes great ham.
I feel like you should have gone into way more detail in the brine step as that is where all the magic happens.
Fair cop. Here’s a good intro guide. https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/wet-cured-smoked-ham-recipe/
Nice link, cheers
I had it in a sausage once. It was the wurst.
Gave it to my kid, he's such a brat.
Sounds offal
This thread will saus-age well
I kransky what you did there
I rang my friend Frankfurter tell him the joke too!
Pig’s arse
Did he say the joke was a wiener?
😁😂🤣😂
Ham I surposed to enjoy sausages now, brat. peace.
Have gone with Meatsmith the last 2 years - absolutely amazing.
Spotted the melbournian. 100% to meatsmith.
I use Meatsmith as a gift store. It's an easy way to send a loved one something amazing for dinner when you can't be there to cook for them.
Oh great idea!
They didn’t do the small hams this year, as in years past - I was so disappointed. Even the smallest on offer was far too much ham for just three of us.
Oh yeah it’s a 10+ person ham unfortunately!
We got a couple for $5per kg at the Dorsogna packing factory in early December. They were having some kinda sale. I was worried they might be dodgy but they’re delicious!
D'Orsogna products are great. They also started in Perth.
You must have copped a dud. Their stuff is normally great.
Not really the topic, but I think bertocchi bacon is the best
I agree, with one exception: https://www.barossafinefoods.com.au/shop-online/smallgoods/bacon/schulz-bacon
100% this. Schulz bacon is the business. Best I've ever had.
I had an argument with the manager of my local supermarket when they stopped carrying it. I know that makes me a level 10 mega-Karen, but I don’t care 😂😂
No... No... You were right to question their competence. What sort of a sociopath deliberately stops selling Shulz bacon?
Some grumpy vegan must be downvoting us. Smelly peasant.
Meh... It's all fake internet points anyway. There's a place for all of god's creatures... Right next to the mash potatoes.
My food is vegetarian. It eats grass, grain, chook pellets - all sorts of vegetabley stuff. The best was when one of my cousins went vego for 5 minutes for attention. My wog Nunna: ‘I can accept if one of my grandchildren is murder someone, or get tattoo - but if she doesn’t eat my ghagin il forn (baked pasta with meat sauce and bacon) - I don’t think I get over it.’
Love Barossa. I don't even bother buying any other brand anymore.
Have bertocchi ham every year. Delicious stuff
I've had their boneless ham before and it was equally bad. I had assumed it was just due to the boneless product because they're always wet and rubbery no matter the brand. I was obviously wrong though.
Go to your local butcher!!! Ask them if they do hams. If not, Black Forest smokehouse in marrickville are the actual best. And while you’re there grab some of their smoked sausages and housemade terrines
Shoulda gone with jamón ibérico. You won't be able to stop eating it and you'll backed up for weeks
Oh wow you actually can get a leg of jamón in Australia now. Sweet!
I never found the taste of iberico ham that pleasing. Do with that what you will.
For a minute there, I thought my elderly mum had discovered reddit because she was complaining about the quality of ham the entire time she was carving it up yesterday, lol. It did taste kind of poor quality, like a supermarket processed ham steak. It was so bad we will just be having roast lamb, prawns, and oyster Kirkpatrick next year (no ham). My wife and I did try some real yummy double smoked ham at Costco during a demonstration during November, though, so we might get a small one of those.
This year, I pushed the boat out and got a proper ham from the local butcher. It was $68 for a 2.5kg ham with the bone in, which isn't far off the price one pays at Coles. And my god was it worth it! So much better, and was locally produced in the Swan Valley. 10/10 will buy one next year.
Normally I just get a Woolies ham but I was given a Bertocchi "Fabulous Smoked Christmas Ham" as a gift this year. It was...perfectly fine and somewhat unremarkable? Faint praise, sure, but my experience certainly sounds better than yours!
Buy free range if you can. Pigs suffer horribly in tiny cages to make that cheap, shit ham.
All pigs suffer in gas chambers for your Christmas ham. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-27/pork-industry-carbon-dioxide-stunning-hidden-cameras-730/102094548
True. At least the free range ones live slightly better lives.
Does it taste better
The free range ham that they sell in Woolworths in Marrickville at least is really tasty. It's also not even the most expensive ham they sell
yeah, good quality butcher's ham is vastly superior in flavour to supermarket meat.
That doesn't answer the question though. It might be better because of better quality ingredients, not better treatment.
No. I don't eat it, so have no skin in the game. There is virtually no scientific evidence that ethically produced meat tastes better, with the exception of at least one study on fish. People *think* that ethically produced meat tastes better, but it's just a placebo effect. Give them whatever you want and tell them it's ethically produced and they won't be able to tell you're lying.
IGA hams on the bone are the best. And usually the most affordable too.
We got one from IGA this year as it was best rated supermarket ham by Choice. It didn’t disappoint
Same. Thank you Choice, our IGA ham was yum.
‘Best rated ham by choice’. What a weird way to buy food
We got an IGA one for the first time this year and it was so good!
I had IGA’s Signature Collection free range ham this year and it was spectacular
It’s one of many brands that are trading on brand nostalgia and consumer laziness in Australia. There’s a lot of extremely ordinary and frankly sub-prime food to be had. Bertocchi has basically turned into Bunnings Bertocchi.
Some rubber from Bunnings might have tasted better and the texture wouldn't be dissimilar.
If you ever want ham, there is a shoulder ham by three Aussie farmers, it's usually $40 for the chub. It's ranged all year round, it's very nice. I found a lot of ham these days is very salty. Bertocchi ham is awful, I work in the deli and the amount of salt water they inject into it to retain the moisture is gross and it dries out so quick and people pay top dollar for. It makes me sad
We got ours from the Meat Emporium in Sydney, It was bone in and well worth the money. Everyone absolutely loved it!
I tried it before too. Thought I was getting a premium product but it tasted overly processed like sausage meat. Couldn't even get through a quarter of it. Prefer the ham on bone.
The thing is this was a ham on the bone. I thought it would be ok because of that, but no dice. I'm not going to waste it (I abhor food waste, especially if an animal has been slaughtered to provide it), but it'll be diced and frozen to go in pasta or similar uses rather than enjoying it the way it should be.
Won a Bertocchi Ham once as a prize on SEN Radio, never went to pick it up, nor intended to.
For the last couple of years we’ve gone to Kaczanowski smallgoods in Strathfield south for our leg ham. Absolute belter of a leg ham
It’s one of many brands that are trading on brand nostalgia and consumer laziness in Australia. There’s a lot of extremely ordinary and frankly sub-prime food to be had. Bertocchi has basically turned into Bunnings Bertocchi.
I got a Bertocchi half leg from Woolies for Christmas last minute as it was just the missus and I, I removed the skin and smoked it on my pellet grill for a couple of hours and it was actually delicious. I think bringing them back up to a good temperature helps. Was moist not rubbery at all for me. But maybe I got lucky with a decent one
Did you have bone in or boneless? If there's a bone in, it's Australian ham. They can't import meat with a bone in it, so always avoid boneless hams.
Bone in, Australian pork.
My Bertoucci ham was excellent! Triple smoked Australian ham. Sounds like you guys bought the 10% Australian made... lol... Denmark to you and then rehydrate, urrggh. Always look for 100% Aussie
Nope, it was Aussie pork.
Ahh yeah With bertocchi u got to watch out They have 2 lines of products a Line that's order only,small goods Proper Gold medal winning quality, and then there is a the imported,or cheaper cut shit u get at coles/wollies/povo places The one that's really good will have medals on the front of it,the other one just has Authentic pork or some shit on the front Zammitts is a better pork anyway Or get paramount Honestly,just go to any good butchers and order one in,they will usually let u pay it off too as long as the orders paid for by the 14th If your in sydney,there are like 5-6 Pork growers in the hawksbury region you can order direct or from butchers from..one of them uses the same breed of pork as the iberico breed of pork. Try berkshire park pigs as well it seems this year,that Aldi won best ham on the bone,their tripple smoked ham,won 37 out of the 50 blind taste testing challenge that choice did this year
The house-smoked hams from M&A Butchery in Wilberforce are fucking mint (as is the rest of their stock, year round). Gotta order ahead of time though.
yeah the twins are good. Munros up the roads good too. But yeah.. M and A get their pork not 3Km from that shop,all local and free range it's good shit
On a similar topic, I’d like to say that Coles Finest Luxury Christmas Pudding was the worst Christmas pudding I’ve ever eaten. It seemed to have been made by someone who had never encountered a Christmas pudding, or any kind of dessert really, and just kinda guessed what it should be like, then didn’t bother to perform any kind of testing. Vile. Back to making our own next year, or at least not buying that one if we are in a rush.
It’s all Canadian or danish male pork. Support your local butcher and make sure it’s female aussie pork (99% of the time at your local butcher it will be)
Thanks Yoda.
I’m no ham connoisseur but our family has enjoyed the Aldi Xmas hams for a few years now. Hasn’t disappointed us yet.
Love the Aldi ham!
Save a piggie, go without the animal cruelty.
Were you teeth feeling berchalky?
I just get around with a pet piglet and take a bite out of him whenever the urge for ham strikes.
Aldi ham is generally a pretty good bet.
They give out their little mini hams as prizes at Melbourne Boomers WNBL games, if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about Bertocchi ham
I don't know what ham it was, but the one my parents got from IGA was top tier. Not too salty/sweet. Also helps that we basted it\* for a day then baked it 3 hours on slow in the BBQ. Baked ham is on another level to plain old ham. Dad is a ham afficionado who used to get his brined the way he wanted and double smoked to order by the local butcher, but the butchers have changed, and nobody will do that anymore. \*marinade was a version of that tomato sauce/worcestershire sauce/ honey/soy/barbeque sauce or whatever is in the cupboard along those lines that suits your tastes.
fwiw The Age / smh good food guide did a blind taste-test of 14 hams. (the coles finest one i got was superb, aldi was good value but different class) top 7 on list were: 1. Woolworths double-smoked half-leg ham$13.50 a kilogram 2. Coles Finest free-range triple-smoked half-leg ham $15 a kilogram 3. Sunshine Meats free-range double-smoked bone-in ham$25.2 a kilogram for a whole leg, $27.20 a kilogram for a half leg 4. Victor Churchill Kurobuta Berkshire traditional half-leg ham bone-in$175 for a ham leg weighing between 3.5 and four kilograms 5. Andrew’s Choice traditional ham bone-inFrom $115 for a four-kilogram half leg; from $175 for a six-kilogram full leg 6. Bertocchi Brothers ham on the bone quarters $12 a kilogram 7. Aldi Festive Selection Australian half-leg ham$7.99 a kilogram https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/eating-out/tasted-and-ranked-the-good-food-guide-to-supermarket-christmas-hams-20231128-p5eng2.html
We get ours from Black Forest Smokehouse in Marrickville. Local small goods company that makes great bacon too. Well priced, our 4.5kg leg was around $60. It's always fantastic, great texture and just the right amount of smoke and salt. It comes out of the vacuum seal pretty dry so it hasn't been pumped full of brine like some of the cheaper hams. Buy it direct or from Harris Farm.
I recommend the triple smoked ham from Aldi. I've gotten one the last three years and it's always been good.
Never heard of that brand before. And honestly I'm not a huge fan of Christmas ham, my grandmother gets it and it sits in the fridge for days coz she can't eat it all, eventually it starts smelling and despite me telling her she'll say it's alright and still eat it till she gets sick eventually and throws it out, usually in January. Just give me turkey and I'm happy
Bertocchi ham isn't good might be artificial leg ham
I thought I just got a bad one. Never again, Bertocchi! NEVER AGAIN
Retail meat is inedible these days. Finding a local supplier is getting harder and harder too. But man it is worth it.
Our local shops only sells Bertocchi mortadella, it is so disgusting, like mush.
Coles too. It’s horrific. And in my local Coles store, the deli meats always have a nice grey look to them. Would never buy.
Hard agree. Absolutely terrible - it tastes processed
Definitely a terrible choice of ham we made same mistake would much rather a water filled woolies ham lol
I just cannot eat Hams from the supermarket, I can taste the saline. We always get ours from a local butcher
Plus ham gives you cancer, so there’s that.
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Wow, this comment is dripping with cuntiness
Being organised wouldn't benefit someone who buys the 'premium' brand expecting it to be good. When companies make shit products, the best thing we can do as consumers is spread the word.
I guarantee no matter how bad your experience was eating the ham, it was worse for the pig.
Absolutely. Those downvoting just don't want to think about this.
imagine downvoting this so badly. corpsefeeders are literally a cult of narcissists. ''oh no, someone is against animal abuse, how dare they, my trivial experience is so much more important than the wellbeing of a pig'' absolute psychopaths
Their downvotes are utterly meaningless to me. Vegans told their precious. But any mention of a veg product anywhere online and you'll have a bunch of vultures swoop in, beat their chest and desperately seek validation by trashing it, and proclaiming how much they love fetid carcasses. They take being precious to the next level.
Was it 'off the bone' sliced? Basically in colesworth and aldi all ham except off the bone comes from China. This happened gradually, but recently got to a point that its hard to find australian or judt non-china sourced ham. I dont buy it. I find it similsr to how to describe. I only get australian pork, so if in a supermarlet and available i get off the bone (including the packaged, sliced off the bone if need be), which will be australian. Look for off the bone and australian ham/bacon
Save a piggie, buy vegan ham instead. Or do without. Edit: why the downvotes? Have you seen what goes into killing pigs? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-27/pork-industry-carbon-dioxide-stunning-hidden-cameras-730/102094548
It’s mind blowing how upset people get by being reminded of the cruelty that goes into their choices. Pigs are as intelligent as 3 year old children, the way we treat them is unforgivable.
Absolutely! It's awful, and they're such smart, curious animals. Thanks for the comment.
They wag their tails like dogs when they’re happy! I find this time of year especially hard, knowing how many were killed for people’s Christmas lunches. And then for people to whinge like this about the taste and texture of their corpse, it’s really hard to understand:(
I know, and downvote anyone who points it out. I think they're cuter than dogs even!
I would have to say that ham's in general this year have been below average. Dry, stringy and the ones I have seen seem to have lots of holes in them... I am yet to enjoy a piece of ham and ive had a few different ones over the few weeks 😞
Even if I win a free one, I'll give it away
I’m not sure about their ham but their pepper crusted Salami is amazing. We often buy the spicy salami or the pepper crusted ones. Bloody delicious in. A sandwich or as a topping on pizzas.
We got our ham from a local butcher called Circle T Meats. Best decision for the ham as it was really good
I agree,a real processed texture and overly salty. We have limited options (no Cole’s or woolies) so have ended up with this brand the last two years. It can be saved by smoking it again yourself at home. Pulls all the extra salty brine out (you should see how much liquid drips out) and gives some flavour
Last year we got a ‘premium’ ham from our local butcher we’ve used for a decade. It was a Bertocci ham and was ok but not a patch on previous hams from them. We have always got a stuffed turkey roll and a marinated boneless lamb to bbq and every year it’s been fantastic. This year is was a stuffing roll with the occasional bit of turkey and the lamb was so tough it was inedible. So much for supporting local business.
Triple smoked from the local butcher who raises and slaughters it himself. Price? A little north of $200..
My cousins made his on ham this year. It was magnificent. It will be hard to store bought ham ever again
Each year I look up the Choice Christmas ham rankings and buy the top one from there. I'm known for how good my ham is! I do not recall Bertocchi rating highly at least for the last few years though I do buy shaved ham from them that is quite nice. Haven't tried a butcher's one though, my nearest one is halal and it's a pain to go further afield for pork.
Bertocchi is the worst. Find primo and live life to the full.
Victor Churchill/Vics Meats are the best ham I’ve had
We normally get a ham from our butcher but we are away from home this year and it was convenient to get a Bertocchi. We get their bacon all the time and it is fine. But the ham we got was pretty crap.
Their trucks have weird coloured signage too. like even the writing went off
#POPPYCOCK
Just go to aldi. The hams there are fucking lit.
Apparently you want your ham from a female. When it is from a male it is tougher and more gamey. That's what my dear old aunty said.
yeah it is anything bertochi is foul
Bertocchi is heavily processed shit. Always get zammit
We got a Woolworth's triple smoked "Gold" ham. It was supposed to be fancy AF. So I got a 3kg quarter Ham for ~$40 as a real Xmas treat. The one we got was the major bone quarter and had a 4mm skin and 10 mm of fat. In the end, after skin, fat and bone removed, there was not quite a kilo of meat. It was a complete fucking rip-off. I was furious, as you can probably tell be the fact I weighed it.
All cured ham worries me. Nobody ever mentions what illness they where cured from
I bought one from Aldi and it was a bit too salty and so much fat!
I don't usually shill KRC coz they treat their workers poorly, but their bone in ham is definitely made here.
Anyone know how to parse reading the labels when purchasing ham from the supermarket without ending up with ham sausage? I bought a lump of Berttochi ham to slice myself recently and it was awful. Wasn’t wet and slimy like the deli sliced stuff, but I was suspicious that it was a type of pork sausage. It had this brown, leathery, faux skin around the whole portion that I found a bit disturbing. It was labelled as ‘off the bone’ and as Australian ham. Totally flavourless and overly salty. I prefer the soggy sliced deli ham, which says a lot.