The Country Ham Book

by Voltz

Good country ham is a delicacy that deserves to be in gourmet company. Dry cured with salt and other natural ingredients and aged to a rich intensity, true country ham boasts a flavor and texture that puts the more common wet-cured ham, which is soaked in brine or injected with a salt solution, to shame.

This book celebrates country ham's colorful culinary past and its continued close ties with life across the South. Jeanne Voltz and Elaine Harvell discuss the lore and history of country ham; walk the reader through buying, preparing, and serving a country ham; and present some 70 recipes for country ham and its accompaniments. The book also features a glossary and a list of sources for ordering country hams.

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather dated book about how to use dry-cured country ham, not how to make country ham. It assumes that you have country ham to use as an ingredient, not a raw hind-quarter pig's leg that you want to turn into a delicious ham. There is information in Michael Ruhlman's "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing" (2005) which addresses the making/curing of country hams. Assuming that you are the beneficiary of such a ham, this book is a good source of information about how to cook it, how to prepare it, how to carve it, how to present it and how to use the leftovers in all manner of things. The history of country ham making is long and diverse; the book addresses all of that before you put on your apron. Because the best country hams in the United States all came from the South for many years, most of the recipes in this book are for Southern cooking. Many of the recipes in this book are of the sort where everybody has one, everybody's differs a bit from all the others, and everybody thinks theirs is best. The recipe for Raisin Sauce (an old favourite rarely seen any more) is basic and competent. Likewise, the ham and leek tart recipe, which may go by another name in your family cookbook. There are several recipes for the biscuits necessary to make ham-and-biscuits which are treated with great reverence in the South. There are several recipes for ham-bone soups, but these are very much in the category of everybody-has-one and are therefore best seen/used as a jumping off point for adaptation. I don't recommend the Baked Grits recipe; I made it and would change several things about it (less salt, less fat, better binder) were I to attempt it again, which I likely won't. I do not recommend the Ham and Shrimp Jambalaya recipe; better stick to your Cajun-Creole cookbook for this one. I do not recommend the Smoked Ham Salad Szechuan; better do your Chinese cooking out of a Chinese cookbook. The Eggs Derby is a classic Kentucky-based recipe but calls for sweetbreads which can be hard to source. The Grilled Fresh Fig Salad looks interesting as does the Tuscan Bean Stew. This book, while interesting, is not necessary to most culinary libraries.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good UNC Press cookbook that does exactly what it says on the tin: loads of interesting, country ham-specific recipes plus the historical context around them.

I drew on this book while writing this long essay on the cultural significance of country ham:

https://oliverbatemandoesthework.subs...