From: Woodchuck
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:51:21 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 9 Apr 2002, Zobby wrote:
> My favorite was an incomparable cured ham: the leg was cut and washed with
> a 60 or 70 degree fruit brandy to clean and dry the skin. He was always
> very careful not to cut to the bone (apparently, exposing the bone starts
> the rotting process). The leg was then covered with 16 spices and herbs
> from around Bayonne, south-west France (he died before giving me the list)
> and put in salt. A heavy cast-iron pot served as a weight to exert some
> pressure and push juices out. The ham staid in salt a couple of weeks and
> was then placed by the fireplace where it was smoked the whole winter.
Yes, indeedy.
>
> I have never tasted ham like this. Some Corsican or Andalusian ham, made
> with semi-wild black pigs, might come close though. Nothing in the US
> compares, unless the pig is fed with acorns and not the usual crap, and
> unless the ham is not injected with sugared water to accelerate the curing
> (this is a normal practice, almost all hams in the US have been injected
> with water).
Ah, ham. Methinks you are not perusing the USA's offering of hams
thoroughly enough, for there are hams to die for here. My grandfather
(a Czech, one of the Great Ham & Sausage Nations) would smoke hams
only with apple wood, sometimes plum.
About the only widely-available True Ham is a Smithfield, which is
dried and smoked by a traditional method.
Injection also, eh, increases the weight of the ham, always an
important consideration in goods sold by weight. (They thoughtfully
add water to ground beef, and I suspect unground beef, to make it
"juicier". A steak cut from an honest beef does not generate a pool
of pink fluid around itself when it sits at room temperature.)
But a Smithfield is neither the best nor the only such ham, the
others usually being trafficked outside the usual mass-market
channels. The connoisseur may obtain Westphalian-style cured hams
from wild boar, for example, certain Teutonic butchers cunningly
keeping same in stock for gentlemen of refined palate. The noble
Italian dry-cure ham for prosciutto is also in abundance. I suspect
that the wily Mexican may have hams of excellent provenance in his
larder, he certainly does a good job of bacon, and his hams may be
reminiscent of those from Andalusia. The odd-yet-interesting
alcohol-cured Chinese product is available, trafficked by the same
worthies that provide your tea-smoked duck.
In Southern Maryland there exists from certain obscure smokehouses
a product known simply as "old ham", old referring to the style of
cure, which is not unlike Smithfield, a Virginian recipe. In those
blessed-yet- cursed counties (St. Mary's [where once I was pleased
to burrow], Calvert, and two others) this "old ham" appears at the
proper time (autumn) and is the basis for a ham dish fit for kings,
namely the sublime "Stuffed Ham". An old ham is taken, well soaked
to desalt, then deep cavities cut into its flesh, parallel to the
bone, and radially disposed. In these slits goes the stuffing,
which is composed of kale chopped fine [sold along roadsides to the
knowing by the local yeomanry], mustard seed, black and red pepper
and numerous other herbs and spices. The whole is then wrapped in
cheesecloth and simmered for many hours at a low temperature. It is
unwrapped, sliced thin and served at room temperature. It goes
well as an "appetizer" along with raw oysters and rolls, and a
chilled white wine. Few things are more suited to the tastes
of he who loves the flesh of swine.
Hmm, that Calvados cured ham of your grandpere sounds good... From
Provence, was he? Bayonne you said. French cooking improves as
it moves away from Paris to the South and West, blending imperceptibly
into Tuscan cuisine, the finest in Europe, all around. The main
change is the move away from butter and towards olive oil as the
primary fat. This frees the chef from certain prejudices and heavy
sauces.
Ah, for a plate of Alsatian Weisswurst, steamed with baby potatoes
and dill weed, asparagus spears, a powerful mustard sauce available...
Those living in the Silicon Valley are recommended to "Dittmer's
Gourmet Meats" near the corner of San Antonio Rd and El Camino Real,
should Franz still be in business there. He single-handedly raised
my bodyweight by 20%. Sausages to die for. Smoked hare. Polish
sausages of legend. Jagdwursts. Russian bologna, Mortadella.
A small smoked ring Leberwurst that rivalled Strasbourg pate in
bouquet and flavor.
> There are many other great edible parts too, from hogs or not: kidneys,
> tripes (cow stomach), foie gras (goose or duck fattened liver), brains,
> calf or lamb thymus (sweetbreads),... Brains and sweetbreads are absolutely
> delicious, but I would be nervous about eating this now, after the mad-cow
> scare. Unfortunately, although our gustative horizon has broadened with the
> influx of different cultures, some things are nonetheless lost for ever.
Sheep tripe is superior to that of the cow, I wager. The Mexican knows
its proper preparation and mode of consumption, to whit the esteemed
"menudo" or tripe caldo, a heavy soup.
Or a barbacoa de carnito, take a leg of lamb or if wealthy a tenderloin,
rub with appropriate spices, wrap in plantain leaf, slowly cook with
steamy-smoke, as in a pit. Serve at room temperature with a green
salsa, lime juice and sliced avacado, eat with fresh corn tortillas.
(Visit the small restaurant "Delicias" in that small town with
the pyramids near Puebla.)
Ah, food, the last revenge.
Dave
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