<p>MIL is from the South, but now lives in California. She really likes “Country Ham” slices you put in biscuits…as I recall from an experience years ago, this ham is salty beyond belief and not at all like the kind of ham we serve. </p>
<p>But…she likes it, and I’d like to get her a small gift of some. There seems to be quite a few places advertising “Country Ham” with “biscuit cut” packages … is there one anyone would recommend over another? I doubt anyone else in the house would eat it, so I don’t want packages that are too big. </p>
<p>Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Also, her aides are definitely not up to making biscuits, so I’m ignoring ones that come with packets of biscuit mix - I think she’ll have to make do with store-bought biscuits.</p>
<p>I don’t know about “biscuit cut”. Typically, country ham is sold in shrink-wrapped packages with two slices that can be cut as desired. Grocery stores in the south stock it. The only place to buy it in the northeast is in Cracker Barrel restaurants. Their country ham is excellent.</p>
<p>It does not need to be refridgerated until it is opened, so you easily buy it, wrap it, and send it to her. My father used to send me packages from South Carolina for Christmas. Once it’s opened, it still keeps forever (probably a month, easy) as long as it’s well wrapped. The stuff is so salty, it’s very well preserved.</p>
<p>It’s fine on a store-bought biscuit.</p>
<p>I’ve been making do with Smithfield ham steaks lately, but it’s not the same. I need to go hit up the Cracker Barrel in New Hampshire for a couple packages of country ham. A slice of ham, a little red-eye gravy (just coffee and a little butter to deglaze the skillet - sugar optional) and some lima beans makes a good dinner!</p>
<p>Here’s a place that sells 8 ounce and 12 ounce packages of sliced country ham for $5 to $6 a package. Looks like they might have some 3 pack specials with postage included?</p>
<p>Country ham is country ham, so I’m sure any of their brands would be fine. I have had the Junior Johnson brand (famous old NASCAR race driver), purchased at a Piggly Wiggly store in South Carolina. It was mighty good. Or, to quote Junior hisself, “Well, aw reckon that don’t s*ck too bad…” Country ham is a state of mind…</p>
<p>Bless your heart interesteddad. You know your country ham but dang, lima beans instead of grits. Reckon, you’ll have a hankering for some greens, cornbread and black-eyed peas for New Years Day? I know I will!</p>
<p>Well, I guess technically, lima beans served with country ham should be called butter beans! And, I would certainly put some butter on them. I like to zing 'em up with a little cajun spice blend. I was never a big grits or black-eyed peas fan. I got hooked on country ham from ham biscuit take out and the bar-b-q joint Sunday brunches with country ham. Now, I have it for dinner without the biscuits.</p>
<p>Butter beans are better than lima beans but harder to find. Black-eyed peas on New Years for luck and greens for money. I have to confess I haven’t had country ham in a long time. I am inspired though, luckily I can get at the grocery store. Have you ever put a pork shoulder in the crockpot? It is an easy way to get some pretty good pulled pork.</p>
<p>I am sure you will find it under the tree. I am always looking for gifts for the men in our family. It is great to have hints. CC serves so many purposes-really enjoyed your posts.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s help – I knew there would be folks here who could help.</p>
<p>And Moreover – I just discovered pork shoulder this past year. Absolutely delicious braised or roasted. The meat is the kind of succulent pork I remember from when I was a kid.</p>
<p>I do pork shoulder for 12 hours out on the smoker at about 225 degrees. In fact, I’m trying to pick a day to do a shoulder and a couple slabs of baby back ribs. That stuff all freezes and reheats really, really well.</p>
<p>I know. It’s sacrilege. I started out as a damned Yankee transplanted to the South in the third grade. I just never really got the taste for grits (or the Yankee version Cream of Wheat, either).</p>
<p>Now, of course, I don’t eat any carbs like that. If I were going to have a carb binge, I’d much rather spring for the biscuit than the grits. Or the lima/butter beans, that are high carb, but at least loaded with fiber and fairly nutritious.</p>
<p>I’m all about healthy food (like a piece of fried country ham! If the nitrates kill me, so be it.)</p>
<p>I just buy frozen lima beans. Cook them in a little boiling water for about 5 minutes, pour the water off (if necessary) and finish them with some butter, salt, and pepper (or cajun spice). They are pretty good for a quick frozen veggie, available in Yankee strongholds like NY and New England. Great with leftover pork roast or pork chops or ham.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you’d find them fresh. My grandmother in Indiana used to grow them in her garden. Fresh picked. Now that was some good eatin’! Her sweet corn, grown right out the back door, was pretty good, too! They actually had a smokehouse, butchered their own hogs, and cured their own hams – although that was before my time.</p>
<p>The hams come from the heart of ham country - Surry Virginia</p>
<p>We had a smoke house right outside our back door when I was growing up and my dad smoked hams so we had lots of ham. There is a country store not too far away from there that still sells it and Martha Stewart visited that store years ago. That was the biggest thing to happen in that neck of the woods. </p>
<p>We still have butter beans almost every time I visit my mom and definitely for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mother cooks them for hours - much longer than a vegetable ever needs to cook. She used to cook them with fat back and butter. We were never a grits family - even with red eye gravy. </p>
<p>I hated chitlin’ cooking day on the farm - hated the smell and could never get near one. My mom still likes to have them once a year or so.</p>
<p>Forget butter beans. We ate those all the time. When we had country ham, collards was the supreme side dish. We usually had a ham hanging in the backyard shed until time to bring it in to soak. Catera are you from southeastern VA? My dad was the chitlin’ chef. I remember as a kid walking around with a clothespin on my nose when chitlins’ were cooking.
It’s a pretty repugnant smell.</p>
<p>South Central Virginia. We ate turnip greens but not collard greens. I assume there is a difference. I hated hog killing day. I could never eat the fresh meat and still can’t. The only thing good about chitlin’ dinners was that the kids got to make a Chef Boyardee pizza - from a box. That was really special. I was just telling someone tonight about ham and how bugs would get into the hams sometime and ruin them. My dad called them skippers.</p>
<p>I’m always intrigued by the way the same products are made differently in various parts of the world. For example, Italian proscuitto ham and Virginia country ham are essentially the same product. Just variations: the amount of salt in the cure rub, the presence or absence of smoke, the temperature and humidity while the hams are hanging. Two completely different end-results, kind of like distant cousins.</p>
If the nitrates kill me, so be it.)</p>