Now that the chicoms are total owners of Smithfield, I have been looking for a U.S. owned country ham source. I found this Kentucky family owned business, that has been around since the 1600s in America. Their cure process is structured after the world renowned Spanish jamon serrano. I was thinking Bristoe or some of you other Kentucky boys might have some recommendations on this company and their hams.

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I have gotten a couple from Broadbent Hams in Western Ky. They were really good. Not too on price either.


But for everyday country ham, just over the state line is Paris is Clifty Farms. It’s less than $3 a lb in most local stores here. We get a couple in the fall and winter.

Always get ours sliced. So we can have it for biscuits and eggs

I have no use for a big hunk of roaster pan baked ham. Unless you got 20 people to feed.

My mom being from far SE Virginia and raised by a small independent grocer, I've been exposed to country ham all of my life.
Grandad always said "Smithfield" was way over-rated as well as over-priced.
He never carried their hams, just R.M. Felts hams

Been in this place a few times over the years.
https://www.groupon.com/biz/south-suffolk-va/r-m-felts-packing-co

Another good one:
https://cliftyfarm.com/

I love fried country ham, but we sometimes buy one and don’t have it sliced. If you’ve never eaten boiled country ham, you haven’t lived.

What about the Cure 81 hams from Hormel...?

I keep kicking myself for not paying more attention to my grandfathers smoke house . There was a time when everyone cured their own meat .

I usually cook them whole, then cut in to large chunks then use my slicer.
How one is sliced is important.

Never have tried or even heard of the Spanish 'country' hams before but used to have this processor send my sister one of their hams at Christmas when she lived in Connecticut.

https://www.newsomscountryham.com/

Just got through eating a couple of country ham and biscuits for lunch. Wife cooked one Monday, a Clifty Farm country ham that my son had won as door prize a year ago, He'd left it hanging in his shop, and it had continued aging. We boiled this one for about 4 hours and it's some good eating. Normally, I prefer the ham to be sliced and fried, but we wanted something different.

Broadbent hams are good, probably a better ham than Clifty Farms. Then there is Harper Hams in Clinton, Ky, another very good choice. Most people that are not locals know very little about the process involved in curing a country ham. Here's a little info.......
https://youtu.be/HRFVAXJOPgU

Comparing a home smoked ham to a Clifty Farm is like comparing Ruth’s Chris to McDonald’s.
I keep putting off building a smokehouse. I need to do that.

^^^^THIS^^^^

I'm from south central Kentucky. My favorite is Penns, but I would like to try Newsoms someday. PM me your address and I'll send you some Penns slices, assuming the local grocer still has them in stock.



https://www.penncountryhams.com/

When frying salt cured country ham I've found that adding some cola and water mixed about half and half to the frying pan takes away a lot of the excess salt and makes it real tender. Best to not fry country cured ham too long as it can get too stringy and tough to chew.

Does anyone eat it "uncooked" as do the Spanish? That's the way I like it.

No. Would never dream of it.

Smoked vs. salt cured I suppose?

Yup

For a while I was thinking clifty was doing a chemical job on them because I had gotten a couple very-mediocre ones that seemed blah and rushed. One even had a lot of blood still around the bone.

But we must had just been unlucky. The last 3 or 4 seem ok. Again ok for a daily driver.

I do

Last week with the a freshly sliced one. But I wont go more than a 1/2” in from the rind.

Mrs slumlord raised hogs and they did hams and smoke them and sausage. The salt boxes and smokehouse are still up in the woods near deceased grandma’s house.

I found a set of logger’s snaking tongs hanging in there.

Plus we have two iron kettles they rendered lard in.

I have a deer stand about 80 yards behind it.

salt it then smoke it

This is a great thread.

Greg in Tenn

You ever cooked a whole one in a lard tin submerged in coca cola or Dr pepper? You have nub the hock a little

A "real" country ham, not a commercial one, is going to be about a year old before you would eat it. These are the ones that all the rural folks used to put up. Hogs were usually killed around Thanksgiving, or thereabouts, when it got cold enough. The commercial hams, like Clifty Farms for example, are usually ready to sell in about 4 months. The flavor from a "real" country ham really outshines the commercial ones.

I think the reason Coke or Dr. Pepper are added is in an attempt to add flavor. You don't have to do that to a genuine one.

The old folks used to hang them up and leave them like you said. Till they be covered in green mold.

Thats right just dont eat the mold . I like it sliced about 1/8 inch thick .

Or both, it seems, based on the Newsome Country Ham link I provided. In Spain all of the hams are salt cured but not smoked. It is the way I like it, thin sliced. I wonder what the USDA label says about that in the U.S. Costco sells the Iberico Spanish ham.

Costco Iberico Spanish Ham

I remember visiting this old hermit back in the bush when I was a little kid with my dad. I was admiring his outhouse sized smoke house he says have a look in side I got a couple geese in there.
Opened the door there’s two plucked geese hanging by their heads all green and half decayed by the looks of it. He says the screen keeps the flies out they’re almost done see how the heads about to break off another week they’ll fall off the hook and ready to cook 🤢🤢