Ham terrine

Fresh ham meat has a lot of fat on it (just like whole hams), but sometimes when you find it in the butcher shop, much of the fat has been trimmed away and you're confronted with a pile of dense pink flesh. If that's the case, buy only 3.5 pounds of fresh ham and supplement it with an additional ½ pound of fatty pig meat - a slice of raw belly meat, a few good chunks of fat cut from a shoulder, or a brick of fatback, should your butcher have it. The fat is essential to binding the meat together in the terrine. If you can't find fresh ham - which is entirely possible, since many butchers only stock fresh hams around Christmas and Easter - you can substitute a 4-pound piece of boneless fatty pork shoulder or pork butt. It's not the same, but it will work just fine for the sandwich.

Remove the terrine from the refrigerator and unmold it: Lay a couple pieces of plastic wrap over your counter. Run a knife (a butter knife is fine) under hot tap water, then run it along the edges of the terrine. Invert the pan onto the plastic wrap, rapping the pan against the counter if the terrine doesn''t immediately release itself. You can use the terrine now or wrap it in the plastic and store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Or, if you''re making this far in advance or don''t anticipate making that many sandwiches, cut the terrine into whatever size pieces suit your purposes, wrap well and freeze. Frozen, the terrine will keep for months. Defrost it as you would any meat, still wrapped and in the refrigerator, allowing at least a couple of hours per pound or frozen terrine.