When Is Ham Not Ham?

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Termy

Senior Cook
Joined
Jun 26, 2021
Messages
303
Location
Parma, Ohio
Ham was invented to preserve meat. However they cured it, other than flavor it drew out most of the moisture. Little bacteriums and bugs need water. Being dryer it will last longer.

Anyway, the usual ham you buy at the store has been injected with water to get the weight back up. If it is only a buck a pound you are paying $8 a gallon for water.

We always bake them to get them dry again. Doesn't hurt the flavor none either.

Then on the bottom we get this ham juice which is way better than any bullion. You could make like split pea soup with just the juice. I got some frozen.

Some goes to Ma for her bean/barley soup, some hits the slicer. No matter what the big bone goes in some sort of soup pot.

T
 
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Mostly, the preservation qualities of country smoked ham came from dry brining with lots of salt, and a little sodium nitrite, that over time, through a process called osmosis, saturated the ham with salt. Salt kills micro organisms as it sucks the moisture from their bodies, just as both honey, and sugar do the same. The meat was then placed into mesh bags, and hung in a smoke house for an extended period both imparting that Smokey flavor we love, and further preserving the meat. A true country smoked ham is inedible because it is so salty, and must be boiled to remove much of the salt.

You are correct in stating that supermarket hams are cured with an injected brine that contains sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate salt, usually brown sugar, and liquid smoke flavoring. Then the hams are hot smoked to cook them so the are fully cooked and ready to eat straight from the package.

Most of the population is now urban. Most people have little, or no access to smoke houses, or even country smoked hams, making the liquid cured option the only available option to them. Plus a true country smoked ham takes a while to prepare. Add to this the fact that liquid cured hams are plentiful, while country smoked hams are now an expensive specialty product. And tis is why store bought hams are full of added liquid.

Bacon follows the same path, and for the same reasons.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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I don't disagree but I still believe what I said about the water content.

Some people do smoke meats in the backyard or whatever. I have been around a few people who get into it. Notably - almost all Black people. They were getting into it, temperatures and types of wood, etc. Making a veritable science out of it.

A couple bars smoke their own, friend of mine worked at one. Also down south in the state there are many little shops. Nobody ever heard off them, I guess you have to go down there, they might not have phones !

HA, Uncle Ano. The olmn took a trip to Utah and saw some family friends. Made the rounds, and wnt to see Uncle Ano. Wel in the middle of summer his coal furnace was sill burning, he said it was too hard to reatart so he let it run. There is a telephone on the table.

So you got a telephone.
Railroad put it in.
Does it ever ring ?
Yes.
Do you answer it ?
No.

Anyway, I have had real smoked ham and I know it is different. And people smoke almost anything. That guy, umm, Steven Raichlen on the show on PBS smoked ice cream.

There are ways I could make my elcheapo grill into a smoker. Get the wood, soak, put in foil, put in coals. Not much coals, and you will have to replenish it. Then there is salt pork. People in the old days I guess couldn't smoke everything, so pack it in salt. Down in the root cellar.

T
 
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