Ham cakes with pineapple and sweet potatoes (p. 106)

Ham cakes with pineapple and sweet potatoes (p. 106) was a recipe that seemed very exciting to me but probably seems disgusting to most of the general population. I will have to check my old TJOCs because this seems like a holdover from old editions.

I made the ham mixture from ham loaf but instead of pressing it in to a loaf pan I formed little balls (teehee!):



I sauteed pineapple rings in vegetable oil until they were lightly browned:



This was about as brown as they got:



It was the ham cakes turn to get browned:



I am so intrigued by these ham cakes, it's amazing. I want to eat them instead of hamburgers!



I placed my cakes in the baking dish:



I heated up vegetable oil and cooked two cans worth of sweet potatoes (indication number 100 that this is a 1950's recipe--recipes from the 50's are typically jammed with canned foods), brown sugar, and ground cloves:



I cooked it for a few minutes, then layered the potatoes on and around my ham cakes:



The whole thing was cooked for about a half hour:



I loved these ham cakes. I thought they were absolutely delicious. All the sweetness from the pineapple and the sweet potatoes complimented the ham perfectly. They heated up amazingly. I LOVED the ham cakes and I want to eat them instead of hamburgers. I would make these again in a heartbeat. I WILL make them again.

Josh found them absolutely repulsive in everything from taste to looks. I was happy about that, I mean, more for me! But I think most people would fall on one side or the other. They were definitely different.

I'm thinking ham cakes are from a different era, when people made ham loaves and such. My father says that in his town, hamballs (meatballs made from ham) are a big deal, so I'm thinking that those are from the same time.

So what do you think? Would you eat these ham cakes or does the idea gross you out?

In other news, I'm thinking of putting together a set of menus for different themed parties. Is anyone interested in this idea? I'm definitely doing a Mad Men themed menu.