Thursday, January 25, 2007
This little piggy had none.
| I know what you're thinking: Jason's already given us the Krystal Piglet, what else could he possibly have to share that's pork related. Well I've only made it to the middle toe so far. I got a little more to go! So perhaps eastern NC barbecue and Scott's barbecue sauce is a little obscure. (Not to folks in North Carolina.) Lets go one step further into eastern NC obscure porky-ness. When I return to NC to visit family, during the holidays, I am of course dreaming of good barbecue. However there is an even more delicious, even more obscure food that I lay awake at night dreaming of: Corned HamI was raised on corned ham in NC. For years I thought everyone on Earth knew about Corned Ham. No one in Georgia, not even butchers have heard of it. When you start describing it and how it is made they jump to conclusions and immediately declare that you mean a "country ham." Once again, that is wrong. Country ham has been smoked. There's no smoking a corned ham. It's salt cured, and only salt. For years I searched the internet looking for a recipe to make my own corned ham. Until about 3 or 4 years ago the only mention on the internet of corned ham was an incident where people in Maryland got food poinsoning from a poorly prepared "stuffed" corned ham. Apparently there's another group in the US who make corned hams, but they stuff it with kale and spice it to the point of causing internal bleeding. Somehow I think the folks in NC got it right, and the folks in MD got confused. Terribly confused. Let there be no doubt, my grandmother makes the best corned ham ever. It takes planning and it takes work. It also takes knowing a good butcher. A few butchers in eastern NC will make corned hams around the holidays. You rarely see them advertised, you just have to know who to talk to. If you are blessed enough to have a butcher who will corn a ham for you, let them! Home corning is a very long term commitment. While it wont require constant attention it does requires patience and dedication. There's few good forum threads from Egullet.com (with a name like that you know it's good!): Short discussion with a few links Longer discussion with pictures and recipes and cooking suggestions. For breakfast nothing beats sliced corned ham (hot or cold) on a hot biscuit. For lunch, cold sliced corned ham on bread makes a delicious sandwich. For dinner warm corned ham makes a wonderful main course or side dish. Late night snack? Open the fridge, rip off a hunk, and gobble it down as you wander back to bed. You can even toss a chunk in with your green beans while you cook them. I think the sudden growth in Corned Ham posts on the web can be traced back to a gentleman out of New Bern, NC who has a restaurant called Crooks Corner. New Bern is sneezing distance from my parents' house. It also happens to be the birthplace of Pepsi Cola. He's also got a fantastic southern cookbook (click the link above and go to the "shop" link on the left). The cookbook features a corned ham recipe. I have found a couple of different versions online as well: eSsortment Raleigh News and Observer I'd go with the one from Raleigh since they're actually in North Carolina. The eSsortment recipe starts putting odd things in while "corning" it like juniper berries. No need in going to all that trouble. When you want to corn a ham you only need one thing. It's not corn! You need salt. The term "Corned" comes from the fact that in Europe they would salt cure foods with large "grains" of salt (like rock salt) called "corns" Thus they were "corning" hams. You cover the ham in salt and let it sit for a few weeks. The first few days it is going to get very very soggy and the salt "pulls" water from the meat, leaving the porky taste inside to concentrate. You'll need to drain off this liquid, pack on more salt and keep it up. The meat will get dry and grey. This is a good thing. When you are ready to cook it, you need to soak it overnight in clean water, changing the water a few times, to get rid of the salt. You should also remove the skin prior to cooking. Don't toss the skin out, though, as pig skin is delicious all on its own. Don't let "pork rinds" confuse you. Real pig skin is crispy, crunchy and tasty. You can put the skin around the bottom of the roasting pan as you bake the ham. The skinless ham has a white pasty look due to the layer of fat that sit just under the skin. My grandmother will take the time to wet her finger, dip it into pepper and "tap" it onto the ham, leavingpeppery fingerprints on the surface before tossing into the oven for a slow cook. You can even see one of her pepper prints on the slab of corned ham I managed to steal this past Christmas (top left edge):  Do I ever expect Krystal to start selling corned ham? No way. I would wager a large amount of money no one at Krystal has ever heard of corned ham before I posted this. Had you? Its probably good they don't sell corned ham, though, because I would go broke and never leave if they did. But I'd be darn happy! Oink! More obscure pork-ish-ness tomorrow! Stay tuned!  |
Labels: Recipe
