Baking a country ham

[Gene L]

Love country ham...for you guys from the left coast or from Up North, country ham is a salt cured ham that's very dry, kinda like prosciutto. The older, the better. Gets green mold on the exterior, which you scrub off. It's very salty, of course.

Generally, it's fried, but back in the Olden Time, people baked it. I have one I got back around Christmas and decided I'd give it a shot.

While the recipe says it's "baked ham," it's actually boiled for several hours and finished up in the over glazed with brown sugar and bread crumbs.

Anyway, the first step is to rehydrate it. You do this by soaking the ham in water for a couple of days to remove the salinity and to make it less dry. Which I'm doing now.

Country hams are best served at room temp, so I've read. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out for all you Early American chefs.

 

[Tallswife]

Looking forward to hearing your results! I've not had that kind of ham before. It sure sounds delicious!

 

[tenngun]

I buy one most every winter. I love 'em. The cured meat takes on a flavor you just cant get any where else. Dry smoked bacon, salt pork or salt beef, plain dried jerky, salami, pepperoni, all just have that special flavor you just cant get with 'keep refrigerated' imitations.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I whole heartedly agree about the unique flavor. But I really don't like the country ham boiled. Sliced and fried, it is like no other. And you can't get good red eye gravy without that country ham.

When I lived in Virginia, I could get real thin country ham slices/chips. When I made anything that needed a little salt and ham flavor, I would add a few of those thin chipped country ham pieces.
The really great part was that it needs no refrigeration to take camping.

 

[Gene L]

Read more instructions on preparing a whole ham in the oven. Radically different; I'll be trying it and post the results as they develop.

The thin slices are available around here, though expensive. You just need to warm them up a bit if they're that thin. Less than a minute on each side.

Problem with modern hams is that there's not enough fat on them to make good red-eye gravy. It's mostly been trimmed off.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I think the chipped country ham pieces are the trimmings.

 

[Gene L]

What I'm talking about are thin-sliced center slices without the bone, but I remember as a kid getting the ends and pieces that we could afford. They were no doubt the trimmings. The ends are thicker by far than the paper-thin slices I'm talking about. Well, a little thicker than paper, about three times the thickness of Prosciutto.

I finished baking the ham. After soaking it for a couple of days, according to instructions I wrapped it in aluminum foil, put it in a baking dish with about an inch of water, put it in a pre-heated oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes and cut the oven off and let the ham stay in there without opening the door. After 3 hours, I turned the oven back on to 500, cooked it for 15 minutes and did the cool down.

I actually cooked it longer than that, by maybe twenty minutes though, as it didn't seem long enough and it was a little overdone. VERY salty. Got to slice it in slivers to overcome the salt. It was pretty good, but may have been better if I stuck strictly to the recipe.

 

[satx78247]

Does anyone have a method to rehydrate a country ham that WORKS well & how to get ALL of the salt OUT of it before baking?
("Duckie" fussed at me about using too much salt until I quit altogether & now I don't put salt into anything that I cook or eat salt in anything any more. All the cooked country ham that I've ever had is now WAY too salty for my taste.)

2 years ago, I received a whole country ham for Christmas & followed the printed directions exactly. - It was FAR more salty than either of us wanted & we ended up giving it to a neighbor, who said that she & her family did enjoy it.

just asking, satx

 

[Black Hand]

It is very unlikely that you will get all the salt out.

 

[Artificer]

When I was a kid, I salted the heck out of everything. Even tried it on ice cream once, but only once. :grin:

The ham I grew up with in Iowa was not salt cured ham and is often referred to here in Virginia as "City Ham," while the Salt Cured Ham is called "Country Ham." "Country Girls/Women" here in Virginia often soak their salt cured hams in water for three or sometimes four days. They throw out the water and replace it twice a day. Some of them use some vinegar in the first couple of "soaks" as well. NOTE: They always do the "soaks" in the refrigerator and only bring out the hams to change water and then back into the "fridge," before they bake or fry it.

I came to have an acquired taste for "Country" or Salt Cured Ham in the early 70's when I first came here. That from eating the local "Ham Biscuits." That is a thin slice of "Country" Ham in a biscuit. I also came to like a thin slice of "Country" or Salt Cured ham fried for breakfast, along with eggs and grits with butter. No need to salt the grits when you had "Country" Ham with them.

Like you and your Lady, I have come to use very little salt in cooking and hardly any added later for taste. But I still make it a point to eat a fair sized slice of "Country" Ham for breakfast about once a month. But that Ham is still too salty for many peoples' taste.

Gus

 

[Vaino]

I remember the whole hams my Mother cooked when I was young during the Great Depression and cooking them was time consuming. Had to boil them for 2 reasons...getting rid of the excess salt and rehydrating.

The ham was then "cloved" and a liquid rub was applied which also was used for basting.

Overcooking the ham was avoided and mostly the ham was just heated.

Even though the above procedure was followed, some hams were still way too salty and dried out.

My son's wife is a Spaniard and ham in Spain is jamon serano which is airdried and can be seen hanging in many restaurants. It's very delicious and not much is needed for a sandwich. But, she really likes todays hams purchased in US super markets....they're not too salty, are tasty, tender and juicy and don't require precooking. ....and I agree.

"Old time" hams just can't compare w/ today's hams purchased in super markets.....either the butt or shank portions.

Also when the ham is "whittled" down until some meat is left on the bone, a delicious multiple variety bean or split pea soup is made. The excellent flavor derived mainly from the meaty ham bone.....Fred

 

[Gene L]

I think the only way to get the salt out is to slice the ham up, soak it overnight, and then fry it next day. That way it's fine, only a little salty. Exposing the sides of the ham, like slicing it, to the soaking process removes a lot more salt.

The ham I tried to do whole is too salty and it's hard. Tastes good, though.

 

[Katahdin]

Follow the instructions on the Smithfield wrapper/bag and you will be fine,,still salty but better.

 

[crockett]

I think the original Smithfield Ham had to meet strict standards. The hogs were kept in raised pens so their feet never touched the ground, they were only fed peanuts, the hams were tested by a ham
"Meister" or whatever he was called. It was like aging wine. When you bought one you scraped off the crust and then boiled in a washtub about a day and then baked it or whatever. It was thought equal to or better than anything else worldwide. My best friend's family was always cooking one, ham sandwiches for the next two months.

 

[satx78247]

When I was in college in AR (LONG, LONG ago), I used to buy all of my meats from THE COUNTRY MERCHANT, which was a "one family-owned" country store. = The Dabney's raised their own poultry, sheep, swine & steers, did their own slaughtering/packaging, had a REAL "old-school" smokehouse & had the BEST sausages/lamb/ham that I can remember buying anywhere.

The last time that I was in Kirby, I went by & found that the store is GONE. = !@#$!

yours, satx

 

[Gene L]

One final thing I learned...I've been slicing ham the wrong way all my life. The proper way to slice it is lengthwise, from the hock up, and I've been slicing it crosswise, through the big end. This is the way they slice it at the store, too. Supposedly cutting it lengthwise allows you to cut paper thin slices off it and the meat is more tender.

Live and learn.

 

[Vaino]

Jamon serano {ham, sliced} comes in the form of a hind leg and when slicing the ham, a cradle is used and the ham is sliced w/ the bone starting at the hock...the same as you propose. Jamon serano is something like prosciutto....but in my opinion, it's tastier. Also, the hams aren't huge like the ones in the super markets in the USA. The fat is excellent tasting and is one of the appeals of jamon serano.

I'll continue slicing American ham, either the shank or the butt, cross grain...and it's not sliced very thin....and w/ horseradish, simply delectable.....Fred

 

[Alden]

Smithfield is slang for "largely inedible tourist trap." Might as well wipe w/a wet corncob too. Non-third-world areas have evolved.

 

[Gene L]

Smithfield is slang for "largely inedible tourist trap." Might as well wipe w/a wet corncob too. Non-third-world areas have evolved.

What's a great affordable American ham? Spanish black-footed hams are way beyond my budget. I've cured my own hams and they turned out very well, not smoked (unnecessary) but salted and aged. Black pepper on the outside.

 

[crockett]

Oh contraire Alden: I don't know what the deal is today but years ago only a ham from Smithfield County Virginia that met all the standards (above ground, peanut feed, special cure, etc.) could legally be sold as a Smithfield. The Smithsonian magazine run an article on it maybe 10 years back- they said the process and results were the best in the world, superseding Italy's prosciutto (they said it- not I).