Google "Smithfield country ham"... it was the Gold Standard forever. At least for us Virginians
IMHO... shave as thin as possible (often called chipping)... amazing stuff... on top of biscuits and gravy... chipped beef... grilled cheese sandwiches... you use VERY LITTLE... VERY THIN and VERY LITTLE...
A dried ham will last for months...
A real country ham is every bit as good as an Italian Speck! Just like Speck, it get's better with age, with a year being about minimum and 2 years being prime. I'm gonna make a couple and set them up like Capicola, in a rack with a towel draped over it so I can slice a little off whenever I walk by.
I buy this brand of sliced ham at the local grocery. My mom boiled country hams then baked them. I rinse the sliced then cook them. Frying the slices in a bit of black coffee is good.
I forgot about that...
Red Eye Gravy... google it.
If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.
we eat country ham form time to time. We usually fry it in coke, it takes a little of the salt out and gives it a little sweet taste. You wind up with a sweet and salty state.
Huh. That's interesting.
I can see that...
If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.
Google "Smithfield country ham"... it was the Gold Standard forever. At least for us Virginians
IMHO... shave as thin as possible (often called chipping)... amazing stuff... on top of biscuits and gravy... chipped beef... grilled cheese sandwiches... you use VERY LITTLE... VERY THIN and VERY LITTLE...
Hell, looking at an ice cream maker here in the corner... I would make bacon or country ham ice cream even. The salt/Sodium is a killer... be careful or your BP will jack.
Good stuff! I “fry” it in water to get some of the salt out. About once every couple of months or so is enough. As said Country ham will put your BP through the roof.
"Aim right, squeeze light" " Might as well hit what you're aiming at, it kicks the same whether you miss or not" NRA Life, GOA
My family never smoked them. Just hand rubbed in curing salt, & rubbed some more. Dad, my mom's dad, dad's sister, neighbors, the whole bunch cured the same. They all dreaded doing it as their hands would get so raw.
Put inside a heavy paper sack & hung for about a year. That might indicate the expense of one that's properly done. A big slice cooked med-rare in cast iron & country eggs fried in the ham grease might be the best breakfast there is.
This...PaPa's meat house was a cinder block building under a huge Water Oak. He used a lot of salt, pepper and some brown sugar. Seems like we would rub the hams for days but as kids didn't mind because we knew Granny would be making us some fresh crackling. That is the best breakfast ever! No 2 slices were the same when PaPa cut it off the bone! Still love it but I am about the only one who eats it here now. Soaking in water does remove a lot of the salt but it doesn't taste as good. Most places that sale it whole also sale individual slices if your not sure you will like it.
I do as well in small portions & thought that the threat of trichinosis was gone for the most part. But I've I've been recently told that it's still around.
I wonder how the Spaniards & Portuguese keep from getting it. Raw cured ham a big time delicacy there I think.
Broadbent Farms in central Kentucky sells some of the best country ham I've had, since a neighbor in middle Tennessee in the town where I grew up passed on. He routinely won "Grand Champion Ham" at the Tennessee state fair in the 1960's and 70's. Broadbent's whole hams average around $10.00 a pound plus UPS shipping, $159.00 for a 15-17 pound ham, according to their website. If you buy a whole ham, you would need to have a local butcher cut it into approximately 1/4" thick slices with a band saw. Once sliced, vacuum pack the meat with a Food Saver and freeze it. Smoked, salt cured hams will keep for several months in a cool, dry environment without refrigeration. That's why hams and other cuts of meat were cured before the days of refrigeration. Whittle off a few slices, and wrap what's left in a piece of burlap or a flour sack. "Hog-killing time" was usually around the first frost of the year, and meat was salt cured and smoked so it would last over the winter. Washing the meat before cooking gets rid of the bone chips created by the butcher's band saw and removes a lot of the salt. I cook it in a cast iron skillet and use a saucepan lid to cover the meat with a few drops of water underneath to steam-tenderize it.
"Sugar cured ham" is a fairly recent invention, and spoils very quickly unless it's kept refrigerated constantly. A few generations ago that was simply not an option. Beef, venison, and buffalo jerky was another way of preserving meat in pre-refrigeration times.