Not sure why I’m posting this, but I have no where to go tonight.
I got a Smithfield(VA) salt-cured country ham for Christmas Last Year. It’s been in my fridge for a year(don’t ask!
In your edjamacated opinions, is it OK? Will it be just fine after I’m through cooking it? It’s on the stove right now(boiling). That’s how we cook them when you’re from Southern Virginia. I soaked it overnight(24 hrs) changed the water twice, and it seems OK. I cut off a small bit to look at the color and texture. Seemed fine. (I’ve cooked country hams perhaps 10-15 times).
If sailors in centuries past could take salted Cod on trips for months/years, why can’t I do this?
I’ll let everyone know how it turns out tomorrow afternoon, when I serve it to my [del]Guinea Pigs[/del] kids and ex.
We’ll have Country Ham, biscuits, turnip greens, black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes and corn pudding for the lucky ones, and Pork Roast/sauerkraut for the Yankees.
Smithfield hams are heavily salted. You need to prep it correctly or it will be too salty to eat.
My old (1964) Joy of cooking says this about salted hams
If the meats were given heavy brines or aged like “old” hams, be sure to soak 12 hours-- allowing 1 quart of water for each 1 lb of ham. Or parblanch them before cooking. After blanching, put the meat into rapidly boiling water, bring to a boil again, and at once reduce to a simmer. Salted meats are always cooked a blanc. Cook uncovered until tender.
Under Country hams, Virgina hams, Smithfield, Kentucky etc it says:
It is the custom in some parts of the U.S. to hang hams, after special processing, for several years, after which time, of course, they develop a heavy exterior mold.
To prepare one of these old hams, soak it in cold water to cover for 24-36 hours. then scrub it well, using a brush and yellow soap, if necessary, to remove the mold. Rinse thoroughly and place in a kettle of simmering water, skin side down. Allow 20 minutes per pound until the meat reaches and internal heat of 150F.
Add to the water during the last 1/4 of the cooking:
1 quart of cider
1/4 cup brown sugar.
Drain when cooking time has elapsed. Remove the skin, leaving the fat.
Dust the ham with:
black pepper
corn meal
Brown sugar
Return to oven at 425 just long enough to set the glaze.
remove and slice very thin
ETA if you don’t want it, I will take it (and pay shipping!)
YOu know, now that you say that, I"ve never ever finished it/cooked it in the oven method. My Southern VA relatives never did it other than boiled/sliced. No Brown Sugar/etc.
Wish you lived closer so I could share. Did you ever have a true VA salt-cured ham?
Once, and I didn’t read about the soaking. :o
It was… Salty, would be the word. :eek:
Now you know why I ran and got my Joy of Cooking, I was worried you were in the same state of ignorance I was.
I would love to have another, but they don’t sell them in the stores around LA, and the ones I have seen on the net cost an arm and a leg.
I didn’t think it was any more salty than bacon- it fried up moist in the red eye, and soluted out a bit. Very much the perfect accompaniement to biscuits and eggs.
that sounds sooooooo damn good <insert drooling smiley>
my favorite breakfast was biscuits from scratch and paper thin slices of ham, and lots of coffee light and sweet
<looks down at her poached eggs on toast and sighs sadly>
Just back. It looks, cuts, tastes like every one I ever made.
My biggest problem is that I need to have my knives professionally sharpened. They work, but it sure would be easier to slice the ham as thin as possible with a super sharp knife. The collard greens/stewed tomatoes/black-eyed peas went just fine with it.
Now I know that I can buy one in VA. where they’re cheap, and store it for future use.
Love them hams, but every time I eat one of the real salty country hams, I wake up in the middle of the night dying of thirst and ready to pound down about 3 Diet Cokes. Worth it, though…
It’ll be fine except for the POLLUTION! But seriously, I’m embarrassed to admit, an article in the Rolling Stone in 2006 got me to stop eating pork. Just saying is all. (on a side note, country ham? I must have never had it properly prepared, because it’s always been too salty for my tastes. Ham in my family was sweet, dammit!)
Hi i get mym hams from kites in wolf town virginia. They have 2 kinds 1-happy hame and the other for a year.,and they are both to salty for me.tried to soak ,24 hrs then cookee in pan ,2 cups of water so much per pd still to salty.any good ideas. Thanks for listening.
(on a side note, country ham? I must have never had it properly prepared, because it’s always been too salty for my tastes. Ham in my family was sweet, dammit!)