Country Ham Research

[Count Porcula]

I sliced the Newsom's ham and soaked it in water for two days. I was afraid I would ruin it, but it's better. A little juicier and slightly less salty. It's in vacuum bags now.

Like I said above, I don't know anyone in Kentucky that does things like this, but I decided to try it anyway, and I think it was a good idea.

 

[nchapelheel]

I cured hams for many years using my grandfathers recipe. He cured 600 hams each year and
sold them all at his grocery store in South Carolina. It usually took 40-50 days to cure the ham
with salt, sugar, black pepper, and red pepper. After curing, coat the ham with crisco and totally cover the ham with black pepper. I hang the hams in an old MS-40 smoker in
the garage until the garage hits 80 degrees in the spring. Then into the laundry room until
the week before Thanksgiving. (about 9 months) After removal from the muslin bag, wash the ham to remove the mold. Then into the cold smoker for at least 2 days.
After that, soak in water for 2-3 days, then cook in a Dr pepper bath at 350 until 145 degrees.
The aroma was amazing. No odd smells from the ham or any fermented odor.

 

[Count Porcula]

I made a mistake and ordered the wrong thing from Benton's in Tennessee. The photo seemed to indicate I was getting ordinary large slices, but I ended up with 20+-month prosciutto-style ham in two 1/4-pound packages. With shipping, it turned out to be considerably more expensive than prime steaks.

Maybe I was tired when I ordered it.

The site says, "A four ounce pack of Hickory Smoked Country Ham aged twenty months or more is sliced as thin as possible, similar to European Aged Hams, and pairs great with cheeses, fruits, jams, or even chow chow-type relishes."

I don't know what they cut it with, but it's not much thicker than paper.

I emailed them to make sure they sent me the right thing, and they kindly offered to send me what I really wanted, free of charge, if I paid for the shipping. I took that deal. They are sending me slices from 6-9-month hams.

For the record, the ham I received is very nice.

The guy on the phone told me this product is intended to be eaten like prosciutto, on crackers or whatever makes you happy. The package says to cook it, but no one actually does. Apparently the salt and aging kill the parasites.

The flavor is close to perfect by country ham standards. Very salty, very acidic, and lots of that characteristic country ham aroma. They sell whole hams over two years old, and they are probably fantastic.

Personally, I would not buy this again, because it costs $72 per pound via UPS, and I am not a charcuterie/antipasto guy. If I saw the same thing locally for a much lower price, I might grab some to eat with cheese and crackers.

My feeling about charcuterie is that if you can afford a wooden board, you should be able to afford some bread to make a proper sandwich.

I decided to try Penn country ham. Their pricing structure is odd. It looked like it was a lot smarter to order a half ham, sliced, than a package of center slices. It should be here in a few days.

 

[Count Porcula]

I tried the new package of Broadbent's ham slices.

The flavor was much better. The first package I bought didn't have a lot of flavor, except for salt. This one tasted like country ham, although the flavor wasn't very deep or complex, like a Newsom's or Meacham ham.

The first package was so salty, it was unpleasant to eat, even though I simmered it in water before frying it. This package was also very salty. It's impossible to say whether it was as salty as the last one. I don't believe it was. It was much saltier than the Newsom's and Meacham slices I tried.

I don't know how Broadbent's manages to get more salt into their hams. It's a puzzle. Every producer coats hams with salt, so you would think there would be very little difference.

The texture was better than the ones I tried last week, but the ham was still dryer than Newsom's and Meacham, and while it was not leathery like the first batch, it was still pretty tough.

The slices are very thin, even by country ham standards, which suggests they know how tough the meat is.

This ham left salt on the pan and my plate. When I wiped my plate with bread to sop up egg yolks, the bread was very salty.

I will give them this: I didn't throw out any ham this time. I ate a whole big slice, and I enjoyed it, with reservations. My grandmother would have been a lot more critical than I am, but I thought it was better than not having ham.

If I were going to buy Broadbent's again, I would buy an entire ham, slice it thicker, soak the slices in water for three days to tame the salt and put water back in, and then bag and freeze them. The problem is that Meacham sells pre-sliced, bagged ham that doesn't need any of this, and Meacham ages for a year and charges less.

You can fry nice, thick slices of Newsom's and have no problem cutting or chewing them, and the same is probably true of Meacham ham, since it also falls apart when you chew. I haven't tried a thick piece of Meacham ham yet.

I gave Broadbent's two tries, and so far, it has fallen behind in both enjoyability and price, so I won't be buying any more of it.

 

[Count Porcula]

The more times I try Meacham ham, the more I like it.

Today I fried up a big slice and a couple of eggs, and I made red eye gravy. Sadly, we were out of homemade bread, and we don't cook anything that takes effort on Sundays, so I was stuck with a Fresh Market croissant.

As usual, I boiled it in a thin layer of water for a total of maybe 90 seconds to remove a little salt and add moisture. I fried it at fairly high heat so it would brown slightly without having time to dry out. It's safe to eat this stuff raw, so cooking it too long is a mistake.

The ham was excellent. I'm not sure Newsom's is any better. The little touch of unique flavor sets Meacham ham apart, so it's not a good direct comparison. The salt level is just right, the meat isn't overly tough, and the taste couldn't be much better.

 

[Count Porcula]

I had a little bit of Newsom's ham this morning. It really does have the classic flavor, aroma, and texture.

A short time ago, a package from Penn Country Hams arrived. This is a Kentucky company. I ordered a "half ham," which really means 3-4 pounds of boneless slices sealed in a vacuum bag. A label says it's 8 months old.

Raw, the ham had kind of a barnyard smell. Not exactly what I expected. Not smoky. A little bit like peanut butter.

I fried it up without water.

It's delicious. No doubt about that. It's pretty tender for country ham. I would say the salt level is a little lower than Newsom's, but I'm not positive.

It's the real thing, but it doesn't have a ton of what I think of as the trademark country ham flavor. It's mild and not too acidic. Maybe a good choice for someone who has never had real country ham and needs to be eased into it.

It has an aftertaste that reminded my wife and me of peanuts.

I don't think I would buy it again. It's very good, but I was looking for a pretty specific taste from my Kentucky past, and this is a little different. If I hadn't grown up on my grandmother's hams, I might feel differently. I think anyone else would be very happy with this ham, and while it's not exactly what I want, I like it a lot.

 

[Count Porcula]

I received my slices of Benton's ham, and my wife and I tried one. I fried it without using water, and then I used water to deglaze the pan and make a little red eye gravy.

The bad: they slice it very thin. I would go with around 5/16"-3/8". Also, it's very salty. I would say it's somewhere between Broadbent's and Newsom's. It's a little tougher and dryer than Newsom's.

The good: nice, classic country ham flavor. Nothing to complain about. Nothing that stands out as weird.

If I bought a whole ham, I would slice it thicker and soak it for two days before bagging.

I like the Meacham and Newsom's flavors and textures a little better. Newsom's has a more intense flavor than Benton's.

I will wrap up by trying Newsom's, Meacham, and Benton's at one sitting.