Whether you're serving guests or just looking for a quick bite between meals, a snack plate always hits the spot. Try these ...

Remove the two sections of meat from the bone and slice them thinly, topped with pan juices and thin slices of compound butter. Copy the Story Link Comments are no longer available on this story ...

Lay ham, cut in 1/4-inch slices, on top of potatoes. Bake 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven until the brown sugar melts. Like Rudolph with Santa Claus, ham is wonderfully companionable with potatoes.

But I also have a ham lurking in my fridge to cook later. I can’t resist the sales, when shanks can be less than 80 cents a pound, and butt ends under a dollar.

My wife and I bought another plate, nibbled some bread and drank some more rioja. It wasn't hard to credit that the Spanish consume more ham per head than anyone else in the world.