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With eggs, grits and biscuits. Nothing can beat it!
I'm with you. I've never served it to my family but once or twice a year I indulge in a good ole boy restaurant. Then I roll my tubby lil self home for a good nap.
Served in thin slices on little beaten biscuits, country ham is a real treat! Ham biscuits are popular wedding fare around here (central Kentucky), though it's hard to come by the real thing, when it comes to beaten biscuits.
I never ate ham even when I ate meat. And no, not for religious reasons. We ate pork chops on occasion. I never liked it.
We only had ham on holidays. I don't know if it was country ham or not.
Ham even in the 60s, 70s and early 80s was not an everyday food in the northeast. Not in most families that I knew, anyway.
We didn't eat ham and cheese sandwiches all that much either. Once in a while we'd have "Virginia Ham". We ate more turkey, tuna and roast beef (until the 70s when my dad stopped eating red meat for health reasons.)
Then it definitely wasn't country ham - it's dry cured.
Virgina ham was not slimy and I thought it was pretty good. It had a smoky taste and was dry. It had kind of a find around it that tasted of maple. I thought that was pretty tasty, when I ate meat.
I am wondering if Virginia Ham is the same thing as what y'all are calling "Country Ham".
Virgina ham was not slimy and I thought it was pretty good. It had a smoky taste and was dry. It had kind of a find around it that tasted of maple. I thought that was pretty tasty, when I ate meat.
I am wondering if Virginia Ham is the same thing as what y'all are calling "Country Ham".
Yeah they are pretty much the same thing. Except one is cured in Virginia.
Some country ham is cured with more salt and served for breakfast usually fried. This kind has to be soaked in water sometimes because the salt content is so high but it doesn't need to be refrigerated which is why it was concocted. We always had cured Virginia Ham for holiday meals and it was baked instead of fried. Virginia Ham is also cured with honey or maple syrup sometimes to add flavor. Slimy ham comes in a can.
Last edited by bad apples; 05-22-2014 at 05:08 AM..
One year, my Mother had a "Virginia Ham" shipped to my home, the idea being that it would be our Christmas dinner. It came with a sharp carving knife and a nifty pig-shaped cutting board. And instructions.
I used my vegetable brush to give the little porker a scrub. I soaked that sucker. I changed the soak water. I even got up in the middle of the night so that the 8-hour-soak didn't extend past the limit. Then I had to boil that baby. At the end of the boiling period, I cut a chunk to taste it. I damn near died. I'm a salt lover but that was too much for my palate. The late hubs insisted I bake it as per instructions and we used a glaze packet that came with the pig. Good thing I had plenty of sides.
I'm here to tell you that I have no intention of ever ordering anything called Country Ham, Virginia Ham, or Southern Ham. Now this is not to say that people who eat it are wrong or crazy. I respect your right to dine as you please. But I'm not a fan of that particular delicacy.
This discourse is coming from one who has always loved pork in most of its various forms, up to and including nicely-seasoned scrapple. I even have a porcine valve in my aorta, since my own failed back in 05. I salute the piggy who gave it up so I might live.
My personal opinion is that it is a disservice to "cure" a pig that wasn't sick in the first place.
Thing is...with country/Virginia/Smithfield ham, a little at a time goes a very long way.
You don't want to serve yourself (or others) a big ol' chunk or slice of this traditional treat - as noted by other posters, it's way too salty for that. Country ham is not a main dish as are other meats, and should be served accordingly.
But oh, how delicious it is, sliced to translucency and served on a hot beaten biscuit (or baking soda biscuit), with a little apple sauce or apple butter on the side. Mix it with scrambled eggs for breakfast. The day after Christmas, try sandwiches with slices of turkey and a little country ham, supplemented by cranberry sauce. Little bits of country ham also work well in quiches, where they add their traditionally smoky, salty flavor. Miniquiches made with country ham are also delicious. Country ham salad served in little pastry "cups" is another party treat.
View country ham as a delicacy, check out traditional Southern recipes and suggestions for serving it, and you may find yourselves pleasantly surprised.
Its great stuff. This former Yankee loves it! Even better on bisquit.
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