Country Ham Research

[Count Porcula]

I'm embarking on a mission for science. For the children.

My wife is foreign, and it has been two years since I had her shipped here. I ordered her from the website in 2021, but our government is slow. DHL refused to carry the box I bought for her, so I had to buy an airline ticket.

I was excited about introducing her to American food, but at first, things did not look promising. She was attached to some pretty dubious stuff from her home country, and she didn't like everything I put in front of her. Amazingly, she did not like country ham. I considered divorcing her, but I finally decided against it due to the trouble and expense of purchasing a replacement wife.

She says her tastes have changed, and she is becoming Americanized. She has suddenly started to like country ham, so I am going to make sure we have it on hand at all times.

Prices have gone nuts. We live in an age when a McDonald's meal costs almost $15, and hams I used to get for $65, sliced and bagged, are up over $100. Also, the two producers I liked have gone belly-up. Or pork belly up.

I have decided to get samples so we can settle on a new provider. I ordered from Newsom's, Broadbent's, Benton's, and Meacham Hams.

Newsom's is extremely expensive, but my late second cousin Wade swore by their hams. Broadbent's and Benton's have good reputations. Meacham costs a lot less than Newsom's, and their hams are at least a year old when shipped.

Age is the big thing when it comes to country hams. My grandmother used to age hams for two years. It's not like there is some big secret some producers have that other ones have not figured out.

Anyway, I am going to try all these products and post my impressions.

I am hoping Meacham ham will turn out to be very good, because if it does, I can buy one for a reasonable price, hold it for 6 months to improve the flavor, and order another one when I open it. I can continue the rotation until I die.

You really need to grow up on country ham to know a good one from a bad one. My mother and all my aunts were very picky, for example. Big city reviewers recommend some pretty awful stuff, so I can't trust websites.

Two packages from Colonel Newsom's and Broadbent's just arrived! This is a momentous day!

 

[Jim_C]

I will be interested in seeing how the ham's pan out.

 

[02ebz06]

My wife has been looking into buying a husband. Should I be worried?

 

[chef k-dude]

Thumbs up for the humor alone.

If you cant handle cuss-words/foul language, do not click and watch this. If you like classic Eddie Murphy, this is his skit about getting an African wife. Fair warning on the language. I was listening to Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor and George Carlin by the time I was 12, so language doesn't bother me.


I like a little country ham once in a while but its way too salty for me to eat all the time. I love salt, but that stuff its really pushing it! I'll get a hankering for it once in a wile and get 1/4lb very fine sliced and usually just eat a few bites here and there for a snack.

 

[Count Porcula]

I fried a couple of slices and allowed my wife to leave her storage container and sample them with me.

The Newsom's ham arrived whole, and reducing it to slices without a machine was not easy. I managed it, however. The slices were not exactly pretty, but they were edible. As I witnessed the carnage I was creating, I suddenly remembered that my grandmother didn't slice hams well, either.

The Broadbent's ham consisted of several trimmed center slices in a vacuum bag. They were very thin. I like my ham maybe 5/16" thick, so if I ordered a whole ham, I would either slice it myself or see if I could get Broadbent's or a butcher to slice it thicker.

The Newsom's slices had kind of a bland smell. They smelled like country ham, and that was about it. The Broadbent's slices had a complex aroma. They smelled fermented; almost as though there was alcohol in them. Very pleasant. This gave me high hopes.

I put a little water in a pan and threw them in, boiling for a couple of minutes to get rid of excess salt. Then I fried them until they were slightly browned in places.

Broadbent's: very salty, even for country ham. This is not a problem, but I would have to remove some of the salt when cooking this ham in the future, so it's something to be aware of.

The fermented flavor hit right away, and it was very nice. I wish I could think of something to compare it to. Maybe a barnyard smell. The texture of the ham was tough, which is not unusual for country ham.

Newsom's: less salty, but typical of country ham. I didn't get a big hit of fermented flavor. The texture was tender, as if aging had started to make the meat break down. Like the center of an aged rib eye. It was much more pleasant to chew.

In the end, the Newsom's ham had the flavor I associate with a good country ham. It was a lot like the hams my grandmother cured. Acidic at the end, with plenty of umami. Since I was looking for a flavor I was used to, and not something new, I preferred Newsom's.

Not that my wife's opinions matter, but she liked the Newsom's a little better as well, and she also noticed the fermented aroma and flavor of the Broadbent's.

I can't say I noticed much in the way of smoke flavor in either ham.

We thought both hams were very good. Sadly, we both preferred the more-expensive one by a narrow margin.

Two more packages will be here soon, so Newsom's will have to take on Benton's and Meacham Hams.

Now I have to submit this before my wife sees me writing it and punches me out.

 

[Count Porcula]

Newsom's ages hams for a minimum of one year. Broadbent's promises 6-9 months, and to me, that means 6 months. I don't like assurances that provide a range, because they don't really mean much. If you're shipping out 6-month hams along with 9-month hams, you should just say "at least 6 months."

Maybe this is why the Broadbent's ham was tougher.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

My wife has been looking into buying a husband. Should I be worried?

Mine has had me posted for sale or rent for a while now.
She must be askin to high a price? Cause nobody's called!

 

[Count Porcula]

If you're a husband, it's a good idea to look go to Ebay once in a while and see if you're listed.

 

[mike243]

I live not far from Bentons and all of their stuff is pretty good, I don’t cook the bacon in the house as it takes days to get the smoke smell out, it’s not a breakfast type bacon rather a meat to add flavor to dishes. The country ham is decent but I am not a big country ham fan.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I’ve never done it but I may just try an experiment. I like to injection cure all of my hams, so I may mix up my injection brine and add cultures to ferment kinda like salami for 2-3 days then fridge and finish the cure. I bet it will be deliciously different.

 

[Count Porcula]

As a side note, I tried the Newsom's sausage my wife asked me to buy. I would not buy it again. It has a nice smoky flavor, but it is way too salty. Fine in a ham, but weird in a sausage.

 

[Count Porcula]

Here is an update.

We have not received the samples from Meacham and Benton's, but today I tried to eat some of the Broadbent's slices I ordered. We need to get rid of them.

I was too kind in my earlier comments. I guess I was trying too hard to be fair. This stuff tastes like pure salt. I put the slices in a pan with water and boiled them for a couple of minutes to remove excess salt, and then I fried them. Still too salty to enjoy. It's also hard and leathery.

Maybe the first slices we ate tasted better because they were fried in the same pan as Newsom's ham. That's probably the explanation.

My wife goes through much more salt than I do. A canister of salt used to last me several months. She gets maybe a month out of one. Still, she says Broadbent's is too salty.

I made one slice for each of us, and neither of us ate a whole slice. I never thought I would throw out country ham, but I would rather do that than try to finish it. I plan to cut up the remaining slices and add them to things like green beans.

The Newsom's ham couldn't be much better.

I don't know if the Broadbent's slices are inconsistent or what. The first two we ate seemed acceptable, if too salty, but the slices we tried to eat today were not worth the trouble of frying.

 

[Count Porcula]

I emailed Broadbent's. I think they deserve a chance to defend themselves. Maybe this ham was not typical.

 

[Count Porcula]

Broadbent's replied:

Without seeing a picture of exactly what you received, my best guess would be that the center cut country ham steaks you received might have simply been from a smaller and/ or older ham, which would have resulted in less fat (leathery texture) and a saltier taste. As you know, every ham is different in fat content, size, and even how it shrinks down and takes to the cure, so every pack of ham steaks is as unique as the ham it came from.
We stand by our products, and every customer's order comes with a 30-day guarantee where if you are not happy with what you received, we will send a replacement or refund you the cost of your merchandise

 

[dls1]

CP...
I read your thread and noticed something missing in your commentary. Did you, or did you not, soak the hams before preparing and serving? To me, that's a mandatory first step when preparing a country ham.

The ham must be completely submerged in water, and refrigerated for 2-4 days, depending upon the
size. The soaking water should be changed every 4-6 hours.

Some advocate soaking in milk, but that's a Hell of a lot of milk to go through if you're preparing a large whole large ham.. On the other hand, milk's a good choice if you're only doing a few slices.

 

[zwiller]

I’ve never done it but I may just try an experiment. I like to injection cure all of my hams, so I may mix up my injection brine and add cultures to ferment kinda like salami for 2-3 days then fridge and finish the cure. I bet it will be deliciously different.

I want to do something like that with hot italian spices BAD.

 

[Count Porcula]

The package from Meacham Hams arrived. A lot cheaper than Broadbent's and Newsom's, but if their web copy is correct, the quality should be just as high.

I just fried up two slices, and my wife and I tried them.

First of all, the smell of the raw ham was unusual, to put it nicely. A typical country ham has a distinctive smell. A little like bacon. A little smoky, if the ham is smoked. Also, a fermented smell which is hard to describe.

This ham didn't have much of the bacon or smoke smells. It did smell just a little bit like...and I am sorry to put it this way...dog poo.

Hey, it's a fermented product. It's not going to smell like a breath mint, right? And I guess different companies' facilities have different molds and germs. I also thought I detected something a little like maple syrup. Is that the sugar they put in the cure? I don't know.

Knowing no one cures a ham with dog poo, I was not afraid to try it. I've had hams that smelled like manure and hams that smelled like mold, so it's not a big deal. I don't think it's a flaw.

It's a mild ham. I would say it's a little less salty than Newsom's, which is a fine idea if you can do it without sacrificing anything. If Newsom's saltiness is an 8, and Broadbent's is a 10, I call this a 6. It's moist. It's not hard or tough. It has a nice, acidic country ham flavor, but it's milder than usual.

I have to say that I miss the usual country ham smell. I think a person could walk in here right now and not know I fried country ham.

It doesn't smell like dog poo when cooked.

I would eat this ham all day and be very, very happy, but I would probably go for Newsom's if I had the choice. I'm not sure, though. This ham has a unique flavor that grows on you and makes you want to keep trying it. I think anyone who likes country ham should give Meacham a try, to see if it's more to your liking than typical hams.

In a sandwich, the difference would be unimportant.

I think this ham is a very big bargain and probably a great choice for people who like country ham but find it a little intense.

Anyone who creates a quality product that has a distinctive flavor should be applauded. Great job, Meacham.

 

[Count Porcula]

CP...
I read your thread and noticed something missing in your commentary. Did you, or did you not, soak the hams before preparing and serving? To me, that's a mandatory first step when preparing a country ham.

The ham must be completely submerged in water, and refrigerated for 2-4 days, depending upon the
size. The soaking water should be changed every 4-6 hours.

Some advocate soaking in milk, but that's a Hell of a lot of milk to go through if you're preparing a large whole large ham.. On the other hand, milk's a good choice if you're only doing a few slices.

Nobody I know in Kentucky ever does that, but I do simmer the slices in water, both sides, before discarding the water and frying, just to make sure the salt is not over the top. My grandmother used to slice and fry, period. I can go either way as long as the ham isn't abnormally salty.

Interesting thing: if you really want a moist, tender country ham, you can quilt it. Get a 5-gallon steel lard can, or a big pot. Put the whole ham in it. Add water to cover it. Boil it. When it comes to a boil, set it down on several quilts and wrap them around it.

You eat it the next day. It's really something.

You can forget about red eye gravy, though. It's pan drippings and water.

 

[zwiller]

Interesting thing: if you really want a moist, tender country ham, you can quilt it. Get a 5-gallon steel lard can, or a big pot. Put the whole ham in it. Add water to cover it. Boil it. When it comes to a boil, set it down on several quilts and wrap them around it.

That's close to my MIL "netted ham" routine. No quilts tho but LONG low temp cook to pull the salt out. FIL did not like it as he wanted red eye gravy LOL. Was a city ham with extra salt and smoke I think.

Hey, these real country hams retain any real sweetness from the initial curing? Or is it indeed fermented from the aging you think?

 

[Count Porcula]

I don't really taste sweetness, beyond the natural sweetness any meat has. It reminds me of sugar-cured bacon in that sugar is in there somewhere, but it doesn't seem to have a big effect. Maybe if I had two hams side by side I could tell.