Country Hams and Holiday Memories I can thank McDonalds, Hardees, Bojangles, Burger King, and some smaller restaurants for removing a delicious staple from the diets of millions of deprived Southerners and replacing it with a quick substitute: the fried country ham. What was almost lost is the delicious, slowly prepared and seasoned, baked country ham. Probably 95% of folks in todays world think that country ham can only be consumed after being fried. Well, as noted thats the easy and simple way to do it, but its a long shot from being the best or baked way. The baked way takes time and patience. Fond memories of growing up: Ma along with aunts Tina and Ruth driving down to Pembroke to buy that specially salted, peppered, and smoked country ham. I dont know who the special ham curing person was, but for their hams those from Pembroke were the only acceptable ones. The 20 mile trip was the easy part. Next came proper cooking and preparation. My simple job was to get an old carpenters saw and cut the hock off the end. The ham hock was sacred, as it would season pots full of beans and peas. They always soaked the hams as they said that it greatly reduces the saltiness. It does. They also trimmed the excess fat, scored the ham, put whole cloves in the scoring intersections, basted it with cinnamon blended with something sweet, and baked it. Thats all that I could remember about their preparations. The truly special memory that IS firmly imbedded in my mind is the aromas of the baking ham and their special small yeast rolls or biscuits blended together filling the air. There will never be a perfume or cologne with a scent as beautiful and irresistible. As a combination, the smoky baked country ham seasoned with spices and sweetness, thin sliced and in one of their small yeast biscuits was as memorable and shared a description with ambrosia: they were both foods of the gods! Lets move forward a generation and and resurrect a longing for the taste of the delicious baked country ham. A perfect opportunity arose. Whilst recovering from foot surgery last November, I found that sitting around the house and waiting to recover wasnt in my plan. Instead, I purchased 24 smoked country hams on sale (what a coincidence) at the Piggly Wiggly and started working on recreating perfection. In the end I had a lot of baked country hams to give away for Christmas gifts, but the latter ones cooked were certainly the best. Call it trial and error, but Im still getting close! This year, Im baking only two, and perfection is close at hand. Perhaps the next generation (you read me Hannah and Lizi?) will carry forth a family tradition and learn the secrets of delicious baked country hams. To begin with the ham is totally immersed into a large pot, a cup of vinegar is added and all is heated to a boil. The heat will help the water draw more salt from the ham. The stove is then cut off and the ham is left to soak for 24 hours. After 24 hours the water is disposed and replaced with fresh water and vinegar. Once more it is brought to a boil and allowed to sit for 24 hours. After the final soak, the ham is boiled once again for a full hour. The stove top is then cut off and the ham and water are allowed to cool for about 15 to 30 minutes. The water is disposed and the ham is removed from the pot. To the still warm ham, a sharp knife is used to begin shaving off the excess fat, bringing the thickness of the fat down to 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch. Dispose of the remaining fat where animals may not get to it! Next, score the ham 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep in lines about 3/4 inch apart. Cut perpendicular lines as well. Add 1 teaspoon of ground cloves and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to about 3-4 ounces of Sandhills Gold honey. (Actually, any honey will do, but I prefer a truly local and unique flavor. Jim and Buddyro Norfleet will also appreciate your patronage.) Soften the honey in the microwave so that the spices dissolve well. Coat the top portion of the ham using all of the clove/cinnamon/honey mixture. Then using a probing thermometer, punch numerous holes throughout the ham working to get the seasoning mix into the ham. Next, place it into an aluminum cooking tray, put 1/4 inch of water in the bottom, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 2 hours at 275. Cut off the oven and let the ham sit for another hour in the oven. Remove the ham, dispose of the juices in the pan, transfer the ham to a cutting board, and sample your newest creation. Your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners will never be the same, and another generation will bear fond memories of that specially baked country ham and its truly delightful scents. Of course please write down the recipe when you perfect it. Its certainly less cumbersome and less expensive than experimenting with 24 country hams. Now the next course of study . . . How did Aunts Tina and Ruth make those small yeast rolls/biscuits? I hope to have that sometime in December:-)
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 18:41:53 +0000
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