Mail-Order Virginia Country Hams

[kayb]

2 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

 

 

 The flavor isn’t strong at all to me. It’s very mellow. Like, Boars Head maple ham cold cuts have more flavor. 

 

  I also loathe beans unfortunately. And hard boiled eggs. 

 

 The pimento cheese idea is calling to me! 

 

 

Pimiento cheese is one of the major reasons to be a southerner. And every southern cook has a different recipe. Here's a good one from the Capitol Bar and Grille. And there's a whole compendium of 'em from Southern Living.

 

Mine involves 8 oz of extra sharp cheddar, about 4 oz of Velveeta (freeze it so it'll grate), a 4-oz jar of drained, diced pimientos, a splash of cider vinegar, a teaspoon of sugar, and a couple of shakes of Lawry's seasoned salt and some cayenne. Use between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of mayonnaise (lean toward the1/3 size); my personal belief is that it should be either homemade or Hellman's regular, traditional mayo, although there are many aficionados of Duke's out there. 

 

It makes a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich, is sublime on a burger, and is pretty damn good slathered on crackers or between a couple of slices of bread.

 

Edited April 5, 2018 by kayb (log)

[demiglace]

From Edwards website,

 

NOTE: Because these country hams are produced in a separate facility from ours, which burned in the January 2016 fire,returning customers may experience a different and milder flavor profile than what they're used to with this ham. However, we still honor our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Thank you for your consideration as the recovery process continues.

[MetsFan5]

100% sure— you can even see my order in an above post. So basically I should call them. 

[MetsFan5]

Oh forget it. Their hours are terrible. That speaks volumes. 

[rotuts]

@MetsFan5

 

9 - 5  your time zone ?

 

[MetsFan5]

On 4/6/2018 at 9:30 AM, rotuts said:

@MetsFan5

 

9 - 5  your time zone ?

 

 

 

Yup and no one answered. I’ll try next week when I’m calmer!! 

[Shelby]

Look what I just got!!!!!  

 

I cannot wait for my new potatoes and green beans from the garden to get done.....

[rotuts]

Ive re-Thought the Hocks Ive have from 

 

Fathers

 

Ive done one in the iPot

 

ver nice 

 

here is my suggestion for the next :

 

the bacon trimmings are very intesnce

 

the hocks Ive done one this way :

 

in the Ipot

 

put a hock on the trivet over enough water to just cover

 

iP on high P for 30 min

 

with natural release.

 

I saved the 'stock '

 

after peeling off the skin from the hock

 

I foo this now :

 

take out the cooked hock

 

peel off the skin

 

and then gently remove the meat 

 

and place everything back in the water

 

w/o the trivet 

 

and cool quickly

 

let all that keep over night

 

chilled as if a braise.

 

then save erecting !

[Shelby]

Ok, I have a hock in the IP as we speak  

[rotuts]

Please post your results

 

i do feel

 

after every thing cools down

 

every thing , skin and meat pulled off the bone

 

should be cooled off in in the jus 

 

and refrigerated 

 

as if a braise.

 

Id like to hear

 

suggestions

 

that are better, i.e.  much more flavorful

 

and Id adopt them

 

instantaneously 

Edited April 13, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[kayb]

Guess it'd work with a hock (or hocks) as it does with a hambone, but what I do is this:

 

Put the bone (hock) in water and cook (I do 90 minutes high pressure, NPR), then strain. Broth goes back in pot to reduce via two saute' cycles (what are those, 20 minutes each? 30 minutes?) Then cool and portion out and freeze. I have been known to refrigerate it overnight, all in the IP pot, when I didn't want to mess with it until the next day, and then heat it back up a bit for ease of straining.

 

The bone gets the meat peeled off and vac-sealed and frozen separately. I'll put it in any number of dishes. The bone used to go to the dawg, until she had an attack of pancreatitis. Now it goes in the trash, and she sits and looks at it mournfully.

 

I have the baby food trays you use to freeze portioned baby food in. Works wonderfully for freezing reduced stock. When frozen, you pop them out, stick the lumps in a big zip-lock, label and return to the freezer. (This is one of the reasons you lose points on the freezer cleanout challenge.) The key is to not leave the tray in there long enough you forget what kind of stock you froze...was that ham, or chicken? (Said she who has a mystery tray in the freezer at this moment....)

[Shelby]

On 4/13/2018 at 4:48 PM, rotuts said:

Please post your results

 

i do feel

 

after every thing cools down

 

every thing , skin and meat pulled off the bone

 

should be cooled off in in the jus 

 

and refrigerated 

 

as if a braise.

 

Id like to hear

 

suggestions

 

that are better, i.e.  much more flavorful

 

and Id adopt them

 

instantaneously 

 

Ok, I'm back with a report.  I've now done two hocks, two different ways.

 

 

The first hock was done in the IP by placing the hock on the trivet and covering the hock completely with water.  High pressure for 50 mins (that was a screw-up by me.....I forgot to change the time to 30 and by the time I noticed it was almost to 50 so I just let it keep going).  Natural release and cooled down in the "jus" in the fridge overnight.  The next morning I took it out of the "jus" and it looked like this:

 

 

Fall off the bone tender, BUT I felt like some of the flavor of the hock leached into the "jus"...kind of like when I make chicken stock , the meat on the chicken that has been cooked a long time loses it's flavor you know?  Now, this could have been because I pressure cooked it for 50 mins instead of the 30 recommended by @rotuts.  

 

I decided to thaw out another hock and give it another go.

 

So, this morning I put the thawed hock on the trivet with a cup of water in the IP

 

 

30 mins.  High pressure.  Natural release.

 

Done

 

 

Not quite as tender as the first one, but good enough for me--and I like tender meat.  SO flavorful.  

 

 

I think doing it out of the water is the way to go to keep the most flavor in.  I just got a thumbs up from Ronnie after he had a bite.  He thinks it could be more tender but the flavor is really good.  So, I think I'll go 45-50 mins next time on the trivet with just a cup of water.  'Course as he's telling me this, he's eating more ham.....so yeah, he likes it  .  

 

Now, when i do green beans, ham hock and new potatoes, that is a whole different thing because I want the hock to season the beans and 'taters so submerging it a bit will have to be done.  

 

Also this morning Ronnie fried some of the bacon seasoning up.  SO good.  Very smokey.  

 

 

And this will make amazzzzzzzing cornbread

 

[kayb]

Supposed to have a few reasonably warm days this week, so I will get out and cook a whole package or two of Wrights bacon on the grill in a sheet pan. This is how I'm reduced to cooking bacon, since cooking it in the house any time, whether my daughter is there or not, triggers her migraines. I think I may have to just shoot her.

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, kayb said:

Supposed to have a few reasonably warm days this week, so I will get out and cook a whole package or two of Wrights bacon on the grill in a sheet pan. This is how I'm reduced to cooking bacon, since cooking it in the house any time, whether my daughter is there or not, triggers her migraines. I think I may have to just shoot her.

Don't bring her over here right now....the whole house smells like it's made out of smokey bacon lol.  I love the smell....they should make bacon air freshener.

[rotuts]

@Shelby

 

how was the salt effect from pressure steam ?

 

i.e. above the water ?

 

I think you did , but just checking

 

after ' its ' cooked 

 

do you think   letting the meat / skin   perhaps off the bone but in big chunks  

 

benefits from spending a night in the broth in the refrig  to add moisture back into the meat

 

a la braise ?

 

maybe , and im wasting your ' Stash '

 

put the meat not on the trivet , as that adds water

 

but on the side to just cover and 30 min HP nat. release ?

 

a little less water , then keep the skin , large chunks of meat in the stock over night ?

 

the bacon seasoning   is really potent 

 

as you noticed.

 

maybe Ill roast come coffee , and cook some ends :

 

Nirvana Itself :

 

a CoffeHouse that does CountryBacon !

 

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby

 

how was the salt effect from pressure steam ?

 

i.e. above the water ?

 

I think you did , but just checking

 

after ' its ' cooked 

 

do you think   letting the meat / skin   perhaps off the bone but in big chunks  

 

benefits from spending a night in the broth in the refrig  to add moisture back into the meat

 

a la braise ?

 

maybe , and im wasting your ' Stash '

 

put the meat not on the trivet , as that adds water

 

but on the side to just cover and 30 min HP nat. release ?

 

a little less water , then keep the skin , large chunks of meat in the stock over night ?

 

the bacon seasoning   is really potent 

 

as you noticed.

 

maybe Ill roast come coffee , and cook some ends :

 

Nirvana Itself :

 

a CoffeHouse that does CountryBacon !

 

I do think that letting the meat sit overnight in the "jus" added some moisture, but it didn't add back any flavor to the meat (the hock that I submerged in water is the one that I let sit overnight).

 

The hock that was not submerged had a lot more smokey, ham (and salt) flavor.  I liked it a lot better than the submerged one.  

 

I'll try a third one with a bit more water, but not submerged....I may wait until I can get some fresh green beans from the store though  

[rotuts]

@Shelby

 

if you are not going to submerge the Hock

 

use only one cup of water.

 

I do think at some point

 

" Hocks and Bacon Seasoning "  thread might be nice

 

after Tax Day here for sure.

[blue_dolphin]

54 minutes ago, rotuts said:

I do think at some point

 

" Hocks and Bacon Seasoning "  thread might be nice

 

after Tax Day here for sure.

 

I'm following closely as I'm interested in seeing what you guys get up to with those tasty pig parts.  

I filed my tax returns a week ago and my state refund has already materialized in my bank account.  When the fed refund shows up I will consider making an investment in some pig parts of my own !

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin

 

pleased you are Top Of Things

 

not so pleased  you didn't chose to do the 

 

Right Thing and do my Taxes

 

 

should you chose to move into a New Dimension of

 

Deliciousness 

 

this would be one of Many.

 

would you order

 

and I do not work for them

 

Id consider the Min order :

 

two sets of Hocks  and one of Bacon seasonings

 

that's what I did as the shipping charges were pretty much the same.

 

Hocks and Bacon Seasonings are quite different.

 

delicious in their own way

 

to be determined.

 

if you want to deal with

 

Smoked Hocks / bacon seaonings

 

in CA

 

being a Native Son

 

keep the extra in the Refig

 

or freezer

 

[Hassouni]

For those that haven't read it, Dave Arnold's treatise on country ham is an amazing starting point.

 

I went down to Tennesee to watch the total solar eclipse last summer, and Madisonville, TN, home of Benton's, was right along the path of totality. Stopped in and got several packs of bacon, seasoning ham, and serrano-style sliced ham. 

 

Country ham is getting easier to find in DC (I mean VA is right across the river...) but Benton's is still the best I've tried

[Hassouni]

On that note, for those who've ordered a whole ham - does anybody eat it "European" style (i.e. Serrano, Prosciutto-style slices) as Dave Arnold recommends and I've followed suit? If so, about how long does it last you, and how do you store it?

[rotuts]

@Hassouni

 

I have not done this myself

 

I think a few people have had

 

Bentons'

 

https://shop.bentonscountryham.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=awch

 

and if they see this

 

they might chime in.

[Kim Shook]

18 hours ago, Hassouni said:

On that note, for those who've ordered a whole ham - does anybody eat it "European" style (i.e. Serrano, Prosciutto-style slices) as Dave Arnold recommends and I've followed suit? If so, about how long does it last you, and how do you store it?

If you mean thinly sliced and unfried, I have.  Actually that is the way we usually eat it.   We've never had a whole ham, though. Either sliced of the petit Edwards or asking the deli to shave the country ham.  We've found that we have to taste a sample of deli country ham before we buy it - as @MetsFan5 has found the quality can vary widely even in good brands.

[MetsFan5]

Yea I kinda gave up on the experience. Maybe I’m missing a taste for the ham but mine was very fatty. I should just toss it. I haven’t even bothered to try the bacon sampler. I’m a bit over reactive about things not being as advertised. 

[rotuts]

@MetsFan5

 

sorry your country ham experience did not go well

 

Id not hesitate is calling Edwards and explain it to them

 

maybe they were away for a few days  or what ever.

 

its a reputable company and you should get a refund from them

 

cheers