I just read a short story written in the 1960s that mentioned in passing a New Yorker who was visiting a small town in the Midwest and who was dubious about the “old ham” he was served. He had never seen it before and, not knowing what the “white spots” were, thought it was spoiled.
I have never heard of “old ham” and wasn’t successful in getting any information when I Googled it. Does anyone know what it is?
It sounds like Mortadella ham, which is a round roll of ham with flecks of bacon fat distributed throughout. I used to wonder about it when I worked in a deli back in 1971, and the owner gave me a slice one day.
Bloody delicious!
I would guess country ham, smoked, hung up and left until ready to use. From wiki:
Whole country hams must be scrubbed and soaked for many hours prior to consumption in order to remove the salt cure and mold, otherwise they will be much too salty to eat.
StG
Country ham isn’t served with the mold still on it so I doubt the story would refer to that. It looks pretty much like a slice of regular ham but has a smokier flavor.
“In heavier and longer matured hams there are white spots in the muscle tissue. During maturing, complex biochemical processes take place, the most important being enzyme conversion of proteins in muscle fibres. The amino acid tyrosine, one of the protein components, is extracted in the form of little white crystals. They look like small sandy grains but have no taste or smell. This little flaw, however, is compensated by the excellent aroma of these hams which has a special place with connoisseurs.”
I never realized there were so many kinds of ham. I might travel to Slovenia just so I can try one of the Karst Hams discussed in this link. Or maybe I can find a Slovenian neighborhood in an American city.
Edit: I just did some checking and discovered that there are a lot of Slovenians in the American Midwest. In fact, with more than 15,000 Slovenians, Cleveland is the third largest Slovenian city in the world. So it is extremely likely that the author was referring to Karsk Ham.
Here I thought this was going to be a thread about William Shatner.
Anyway, seconding that TWDuke’s link was pretty interesting.
[In fact, with more than 15,000 Slovenians, Cleveland is the third largest Slovenian city in the world. So it is extremely likely that the author was referring to Karsk Ham.
[/QUOTE]
I have to start proofreading better. There are more than 50,000 people in Cleveland with Slovenian ancestory.