Waffle House is the only place I’ve found this menu item “Country Ham” often sold with red eye gravy. It has a very sharp, gamey or pungent flavor to it.
Nothing like the canned Armour ham I typically cook at home rubbed in brown sugar & pineapple. Or for that matter at other restaurants that sell ham.
Is that sharp, gamey flavor in Waffle House’s Country Ham a particular kind of hog or cut of meat? Is it a flavor that’s introduced artificially in the meat?
YMMV but I’m not a fan of “Country Ham” nor their “red eye” gravy.
Country Ham is an air-dried cured leg of pork. As such, it has a distinctly gamey taste, similar in many ways to the Italian prosciutto or parma ham. If the Waffle House is being authentic, that would explain the gaminess.
It’s a combination of salt and “aging” aka mild rot that is not harmful. A country ham “on the leg” has a thick coating of mold over it that you scrape off before eating. You also have to soak it in numerous changes of water to make it edible.
mmmmmm, country ham. Like pulling up to the ol’ salt lick.
I’d almost forgotten the salt. I couldn’t get enough water for hours after that breakfast.
I might like it now that I know what to expect. That first bite was quite a shock because I was expecting the usual Armour Ham. Armour Hams really have little taste except sweetness from the brown sugar its cooked & basted in.
Its an acquired taste, for sure. I love it, when I can get it. My husband will have a bite of mine and that’s enough for the year Even fans have a limit to how much they can eat in a sitting, leading to the old timey Virginia saying “forever is two people and a ham.”
Country hams are, indeed more closely related to prosciutto or Serrano ham than they are to canned ham! Other than being being the same meat, they’re as different as steak and beef jerky or fresh salmon and smoked salmon. Country ham is preserved and is shelf stable basically indefinitely due to the salt and lack of moisture.
Sliced thin and chopped, country ham is kickass in Spaghetti Carbonara instead of bacon.
First off, you’re coming from a place where you consider canned ham edible. So anything other than that is going to taste weird.
Country ham is either smoked or salted (usually salted down.) It “keeps” the meat the same way people used to salt down fish and stuff. It preserves it.
A mold grows over it, which isn’t a bad thing. I don’t know how or why, but it keeps the hock from rotting. You slice some off and trim off the mold.
Red gravy is made when you take up the ham out of the skillet. You pour some water into the hot skillet. It sizzles and turns red and you heat it for a minute.
Not to gross you out, but this is my defination of gamy:
You know how sometimes you’re driving down the road and there’s a dead dog right in the middle of it? And trying to be a good citizen, you get out and try to drag it off to the side? But when you grap it’s leg, it comes off (or out) in your hands.
That’s gamy.
Ham doesn’t taste like that.
I totally posted this in the wrong place, Hello Again. You know of which you speak. I was talking to the young’un.
What you describe as “gamieness” is probably the concentrated and salt cured meatieness of the Smithfield Virginia style Country Ham. Instead of the boiled and washed out flavor of the fresh canned ham or even most Grocery store Boneless Cooked Hams and the meat’s rubbery texture, it is a result of a cured salt (and sometimes smoking) process. Personally, I much prefer the texture of a Country Ham over the spongy texture of most fresh cooked/brined and injected hams. Of course, I have never had Waffle House Country Ham, but I do enjoy the Cracker Barrel’s Country Ham.
I bought country ham a couple of years ago, and not knowing much about it, bought wayyy too much (I think my MIL asked me to buy ham for Easter. Oops.)
Anyway, it sat in our fridge for a long damn time until I discovered a kickass use for it: fettucine al Bubba. That is, I’d make up a batch of fettucine alfredo, then fry up some country ham and chop it on top of the pasta. Fusion cuisine at its finest.
I love country ham. I cook one for Christmas every year by request of the family. My sister in particular would probably disown me if I didn’t.
Of course, I grew up eating country ham, but to me it doesn’t have a gamy flavor at all. It’s a nice smoky, meaty, and salty flavor. Has a bit of an umami taste. A well-aged ham will often have crystals in it like an aged parmigiano cheese does. A country ham to be baked needs to be soaked first to get rid of some of the salt. Mine gets dunked in water for at least three days then baked to an appropriate internal temperature and glazed with sorghum. It’s actually a nicely juicy ham when done that way. I buy the biggest ham I can find and hardly ever have leftovers.
Even fans have a limit to how much they can eat in a sitting, leading to the old timey Virginia saying “forever is two people and a ham.”