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An American Ham

October 8, 2010 0 Comments

How did people preserve meat before the days of refrigeration?  They salted it, dried it, and smoked it!  In America we still keep a few “leftovers” from the old days of salted meat in our fridges today.  One of these everyday salted meats is bacon and another is country ham, the best known of which is the Smithfield Ham!

On our journey through Virginia, Amanda and I visited the town of Smithfield,  where the manufacture of Smithfield Ham began and where today, as stated by law, all Smithfield Hams must be made within the city limits.  We discovered that Smithfield Ham is a specific brand of country ham.

Country hams are dry cured hams that have been aged for a minimum of 25 days.  Most country hams are aged from 2-3 months.  Smithfield Hams, as a benchmark of the highest quality county ham, are aged from 6-12 months before packaging.

Country hams differ from common “city hams” in that no water is added.  In fact, the process of making country hams goes to great lengths to remove moisture from the ham.  This was originally done for purely for preservation purposes, but today the hams are cured for their prized flavor.

Traditionally country hams such as the Smithfield Ham were preserved by salting, hanging, and smoking of pork “hams” or legs. This process prevents the meat from spoiling.  Salting and aging country ham draws out moisture from the meat–stopping meat-spoiling microbes from multiplying.  Smoking country hams makes them less attractive to the likes of flies and other pests.

Incidentally, the preservation process that made country ham so unattractive to pests also appealed to the human palate so much that its recipe remains virtually unchanged today.  As it turns out, all the methods used to preserve country ham (salting, hanging, and smoking) also effectively concentrate, develop, and add to the flavor of the ham.  This makes for a distinct flavor that was born from pure necessity but has matured into a beloved delicacy in the southern states.

Upon trying country ham for the first time I was a bit surprised– this ham was SALTY!  Even after being soaked (to remove salt), cooked, and thinly sliced this ham was still a salt bomb.  However, after the initial sodium shock wore off, the ham actually did have a mildly sweet, nutty flavor and a very pleasant dry, tender texture that “melts in your mouth.”

American Smithfield Ham, as well as many other good American country hams, compare in quality to some of the best cured hams in the world such as Italian Prosciutto or Spanish Serrano ham.  The main difference of the American country ham is that it is always cooked before eating unlike European hams that are sliced very thin and eaten uncooked.

The fact that American hams are always cooked opens them up to a wide variety of uses.  Country hams are often soaked and boiled to be roasted with a sweet glaze such as honey glaze or brown sugar and pineapple glaze.

Ham hocks and ham bones add a wonderful flavor to bean soups and pieces of ham add a delicious flavor when cooked with bitter greens such as collards, kale, or broccoli rabe.  Other popular ham recipes include ham salad made with diced ham, mayonnaise, onion, and pickle relish or red-eye gravy made with fried ham drippings and coffee!

Maybe the most delicious way to eat Virginia ham is to eat it for breakfast on buttered biscuits.  Amanda and I brought this treat for breakfast when we visited the home of Amanda’s Uncle Charles in Norfolk, Virginia.

We bought some uncooked, sliced country ham that we soaked to remove some of the saltiness.  We then steamed the slices in a small amount of water until they were cooked through and tender.  Amanda toasted biscuits with butter and we all enjoyed the flakey, salty, buttery, hammy goodness that is country ham.

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