A salt-cured, smoked and aged hog leg, sliced thin and fried with red-eye gravy. Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee farms have dry-cured hams since colonial times, and Virginia law reserves the name Smithfield ham for hams cured in that town.
It is a whole bone-in leg cured over months to years through a full summer’s heat, where the salt has to reach the bone before anything else does, and a fault deep in the muscle is invisible until it is cut.
What goes into it
- a whole hog leg, bone in
- salt and curing salt
- sugar and pepper
- hickory smoke
How it is made
The leg is packed in salt for a period fixed by weight, then rested cold so the salt equalises, washed, and cold-smoked over hickory. It hangs in an unheated smokehouse for months to years, through the summer heat, losing at least 18 percent of its weight — the summer is part of the process, not something the curer works around.
How long it takes: six months to two years
How it is eaten
Sliced thin and fried, with red-eye gravy and biscuits, or shaved raw when long-aged.
History
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee farms have dry-cured hams since colonial times; Virginia law reserves the name Smithfield ham for hams cured in that town.
Frequently asked questions
What is Country ham?
Country ham is a charcuterie & cured from United States: salt-cured, smoked and aged hog leg, sliced thin and fried with red-eye gravy. Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee farms have dry-cured hams since colonial times; Virginia law reserves the name Smithfield ham for hams cured in that town.
How is Country ham made?
The leg is packed in salt for a period fixed by weight, then rested cold so the salt equalises, washed, and cold-smoked over hickory. It hangs in an unheated smokehouse for months to years, through the summer heat, losing at least 18 percent of its weight — the summer is part of the process, not something the curer works around. It takes six months to two years.
Can I make Country ham at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. It is a whole bone-in leg cured over months to years through a full summer’s heat, where the salt has to reach the bone before anything else does, and a fault deep in the muscle is invisible until it is cut.
What goes into Country ham?
A whole hog leg, bone in, salt and curing salt, sugar and pepper, hickory smoke.
How is Country ham eaten?
Sliced thin and fried, with red-eye gravy and biscuits, or shaved raw when long-aged.
