Did your mom/grandma whoever make ham barbecue?

[58limited]

Never heard of. Now grilled Spam on the other hand....

[Donw]

Is everywhere.😋

[Texas Larry]

Never heard of it in south Texas.

[jfmorris]

I never heard of this before - grew up in Georgia, and spent most of my adult life in Alabama.

Fried bologna, fried spam and such were sandwich staples, but no BBQ sauce was involved. Growing up, at home at least BBQ sauce was something on chicken my dad grilled a few times in the summer each year. I was in high school before I ever had pulled pork or ribs with BBQ sauce, as it's just not something my folks made before that time.

And for someone who mentioned slaw on sandwiches - yes, a dab of slaw on a pulled pork sandwich is a proper way to serve it here in the southeastern US.

[Jessterr]

I grew up in MD and I’ve never heard of a ham bbq sandwich.

Same here, born and bred in the Baltimore burbs and never heard of it. Might give it a try though, got a bunch of double smoked ham in the freezer.

[58limited]

Well, at least you had Baltimore Pit Beef, one of my new favorite sandwiches.

[IowaGirl]

I'm born and bred in Iowa. I lived in Kansas City, Missouri, for about 12 years, but moved back to Iowa quite some years ago and have stayed here ever since. I can't say I ever saw BBQ ham sandwiches like you describe, whether in Iowa or Missouri.

A potluck/buffet sandwich filling that used to be pretty common is the "loose meat" sandwiches aka "sloppy Joes" aka "Maid Rite" sandwiches. It's basically cooked ground beef, sometimes with onion, seasoned with a sweet-and-sour BBQ-type sauce. Often served in the big gray and white electric roasting pans at parties and get togethers.

I'd say the more typical sandwich filling nowadays is overly-dry pulled pork slathered in a sticky sweet BBQ sauce. I'm not sure that's an improvement over sloppy Joes.

[jfmorris]

You know, I've not had a good ole sloppy Joe in years! That was a staple growing up. We had them at home, and had them at school as well. I'm gonna have to remedy that soon!

[Prof Bunky]

When we were growing up in Pittsburgh, our mom used to make ham barbecue: it was basically deli ham, sliced thin, heated in a pan with bbq sauce and served on a bun with relish. It was also pretty common at potluck suppers, and if you went over to a friend’s house and were invited to stay for lunch or dinner, there was a fair chance you’d get ham barbecue sandwiches.

The reason I’m asking isn’t to be nostalgic; it’s that when I googled it, the first page of results were mostly Pittsburgh ham barbecue sandwiches. So, I’m curious: how widespread were ham barbecue sandwiches? It can’t just be Western PA. I would think that would be a straightforward Middle America thing, something moms made in Indiana, California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, wherever. A pound of chipped ham and a bottle of Kraft sauce fed a family of 8 for my mom, after all.

Never heard of it, but there's some ham in the fridge, so…

[JLR]

Grilled ham and grilled pineapple slices with BBQ sauces is the closest we came.

[Onez]

I grew up in NWPA and my maternal grandparents lived in Pittsburgh (Penn Hills). We'd visit them several times each year and I absolutely loved eating "Chipped Ham" sandwiches at their house. My mom would have to tell me to slow down when I'd go back for a 3rd sandwich.

I believe Isaly's restaurant was famous for their chipped ham sandwich recipe?

[Mosca]

Yep. It was actually chipped chopped ham: the ham was chopped, then pressed into a deli loaf, then sliced on the thinnest setting. And Isaly’s made their own bbq sauce for it as well, but most families just used whatever was on hand.

[N227GB]

I used to have a place on the western PA border south of Youngstown but I've never heard of this. I do know what jumbo is, and...

[WayneT]

I’ve had country cured ham, pork sausage, liver pudding, sousemeat, chittlins (once!), pork rinds, pork skins, pigs feet, scrapple, etc. ad nauseum, but never ham bbq. Should I add it to my repertoire?

[Mosca]

Start with a quarter pound.

[Murdy]

Never heard of it in Illinois or Wisconsin (lived in both as a kid). Sloppy Joe's were a staple, though (a/k/a "barbecues" in northern Wisconsin), though the BBQ sauce tended to be cut quite aggressively with ketchup (or catsup, depending what was on hand). It did stretch out the ground beef a bit.

[RichieB]

Grew up northern Jersey, never heard of it. Don't believe it's a New England thing either.

[Mark V]

Grew up in Iowa and live in Minnesota, haven't heard of ham bbq sandwiches, sounds good though. What I did have in Iowa was ham balls, and those I thought were great! Still make them, and I have smoked them to make them even better.

https://momsdinner.net/ham-balls/