Everything about Country Ham totally explained
Country ham is a variety of cured
ham from the
United States, associated with the
Southern United States. It is typically very salty in taste.
Country hams are
salt- and
nitrate-cured for about a month and may be
hardwood (usually
hickory and
red oak)
smoked, then
aged for several months to a year. Smoking isn't legally mandated for making country ham. Some types of country ham (such as the "salt-and-pepper ham" of
North Carolina) are not smoked. The smoking process turns the meat a much redder color than other hams. They are usually sold in stores unrefrigerated as whole bone-in hams packaged in rough cotton bags, with identifying markings printed on the bags. Country ham is also sold in ready-to-cook pre-soaked, pre-sliced packages, usually vacuum-packed plastic sheets.
Whole country hams must be scrubbed and soaked for many hours prior to consumption in order to remove the salt cure and mold, otherwise that'll be much too salty to eat. Even when soaked properly, they're still quite salty. There are several methods of cooking a country ham. They include slicing and pan-frying, baking whole, and simmering for several hours (in several changes of water), followed by baking whole.
Country ham is often served in restaurants as an entree as a whole slice, often with the femur cross-section left in. It is also commonly served sliced and then cut into pieces to be used in
sandwiches made of buttermilk (or similar)
biscuits, sometimes with butter or
red-eye gravy. The bone is obviously not left in for this preparation.
Red-eye gravy is closely associated with country ham, and is made by adding water or coffee to country ham pan drippings and cooking it down for a short time.
Country ham can be compared to
prosciutto, but prosciutto isn't smoked, and is generally moister than a country ham. It is also usually sliced much thinner instead of the thicker traditional country ham "steaks". Even country ham sliced to be used in a
biscuit sandwich is cut thicker than prosciutto traditionally is.
Some
cookbooks on
Chinese cooking produced in the
West suggest that country ham can substitute for Chinese ham products such as
Jinhua ham, being similar in flavor.
Smithfield Ham
Smithfield ham is a specific form of the country ham, a product which originated in the
Town of Smithfield in
Isle of Wight County in the
Hampton Roads region of
Virginia. A
1926 Statute of
Virginia (passed by the
Virginia General Assembly) regulates the usage of the term "Smithfield Ham" by stating:
Genuine Smithfield hams [arethose] cut from the carcasses of peanut-fed [[Hog (swine) |
The peanut feed stipulation was removed in
1966.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Country Ham'.
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