Well, I waited as long as I could, and my in-laws were heading back to Florida for the winter this past weekend, and I've been amping this ham up to them forever so I thought it would be a nice going away present for them to be there while I cut into the ham to see what was inside! It was worse than the anticipation of being a kid on christmas eve wanting to know what was inside those presents..
I have to say that in all honesty, I wasn't sure what to expect, or if it would even come out good based on the process I followed and some inconsistencies along the way. But once all was said and done, I could not believe the results, they were AMAZING.
This Country Ham has been hanging in my kitchen from a hook since March. From the beginning of spring when the cold air turned warm and the leaves all popped, all throughout the heat and humidity of the summer, and into the cool crisp fall this ham has been hanging right there in my kitchen, staring at me in the face, begging to be eaten! Around July was when this ham was technically finished as a country ham. But I despise summer heat and humidity, so I figured I would wait until the weather was better, and fall sure seemed like the right time to me.
No special prep here for the cutting, other than buying a $4 long knife from walmart for shaving the ham as I did not have one that was thin enough to do the job nicely. Got all my knives ready and cutting board out.
Here is the ham brought down from it's hanging place and resting on the cutting board prior to investigation:
My son loved the entire aspect of curing, smoking and getting the ham ready for business:
Here is the notch I cut to get started, I was amazed at how beautiful the color was already!
Wife's side of the family anticipating deliciousness:
At this point, after cutting the notch, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.. try it raw as is, or fry some up.. before I could think twice about it, my father in law grabbed the hunk I cut out and shoved it into his mouth and said it tasted like Proscuitto! And I was worried about who was going to be the guinea pig.. ha! So I decided to start shaving off thin proscuitto-like slices and put them onto a plate:
It was just gorgeous..
The flavor was just insane, it was so smooth and light and just the right amount of salt, it just melted in your mouth! I was really worried that it was going to come out too salty, but it was just about perfect throughout. We did fry up a few pieces and for some reason, that made the salt precipitate out and those pieces were way way way more salty than they were raw..
I cut this hunk off to give to my mother and father in law to bring to florida because they always help so much with the kids:
Ain't she PURTY!?
All shaved up:
And here is how she sits now. In total, 14 people have eaten this and it's been a day or two and everyone is fine, so I am not worried about it being raw. It smelled out of this world, and tasted like one of the finest aged salty hams you could ever eat..
I put the slices of fat/skin back on top of the area that is cut, covered it with a cloth towel and put it into my downstairs fridge for safe keeping. Cannot stop thinking about, or eating this ham, just had a ham sandwich for lunch!