It’s my Easter tradition – buying and cooking a genuine Smithfield, Virginia Country Ham. These can be super-salty, as the hams are dry salt-cured, then smoked with hickory and aged up to one year. This is not the kind of ham you cut in a thick chunk, throw on a plate, and serve with some scalloped potatoes. Do you love real ham biscuits? The kind with the slices of super-thin yumminess inside? This recipe is where this ham shines.
Most opt to buy their country hams pre-cooked, as it eliminates many of the steps (and days!) to prepare the ham correctly. Although it takes a while, the effort is minimal and the results spectacular. Since the process is daunting to many, I will be talking you through the process in the next few days, with photos, in hopes that you may want to try this yourself – or at least have some of the mystery uncloaked.
www.smithfieldhams.com is where I buy my country hams – stop by and take a peek. They sell both cooked and uncooked hams, in various kinds, and are the real thing.
There are huge leaps in a Civilization’s move forward that will forever be instilled in the annals of history: The discovery of Fire; The Invention of Gunpowder; Man’s first steps on the Moon. I was not around for the first two, but I had the pleasure of watching the last one on television when I was a wee boy. Imagine my happiness upon learning that I have now witnessed not one, but TWO great moments of civilization – The Bacon Explosion!
Now before you read any further, you MUST check out the link above – Or the rest of this will not make sense at all.
On the Thursday before the Superbowl, my co-worker Jonathon sent me an Email with the above link. How this flew under my radar I’ll never know, and by the next morning Good Morning America featured it:
I was feeling the pull – It was like a Black Hole sucking me in and there was no way I could ever hope to fight it – I just HAD to make this dish!
Bacon Weaving
The ‘weaving’ of the bacon strips went better than expected – It must be all those crafts I took when I was a kid at Camp – Never did I guess I’d be weaving Pork Products! I ended up doing a 6×5 “blanket” instead of a 5×5 as the recipe suggests – Although I used quality bacon, it must have been a bit thinner on the short side than the boys at BBQ Addicts used. All of the leftover bacon, probably about 1.5 pounds, went into a hot pan to cook.
In addition to the regular sausage, I also added some Chorizo – I figured it needed a bit of heat, as the only spice was from the BBQ rub and sauce. After spreading the Italian sausage over all of the bacon, I put the chorizo on top of that but only on one end.
Cooked Bacon on top
The cooked bacon then went onto the top, followed by BBQ sauce (I used Maker’s Mark brand) and a sprinkling of BBQ Rub (Stubbs, one of my favorites).
Then the gymnastics – I rolled back the sausage, then rolled it forward with the bacon weave on the outside.
The Log
Viola! BACON LOG! Another sprinkling of Stubbs and it was off to the smoker as per the recipe. Mine took a bit longer than theirs, about three house – But I figured it would since there was a slightly larger bacon weave.
A quick slather of Maker’s Mark (the BBQ sauce, not the Whisky – Although that might be interesting next time…..) turned the outside nice and glossy.
Right out of the Smoker
The result was amazing – The weave and the slow cooking ensured that the bacon didn’t shrink, yet it was nice and crispy on the outside. The meld of pork flavors inside was awesome, and the chorizo came over very well – Those bites had a nice little kick to them, but not too much. My first piece I had with eggs over easy – A perfect breakfast, and the second was the next day at lunch – Slapped between two halves of of a fresh roll, with just a bit more BBQ sauce for good measure.
Better Inside!
Many folks, when hearing that I actually MADE this monstrosity, were surprised – But those that know me knew better – How could I NOT make it? This kind of stuff is in my Blood! It’s what makes me tick. Just look at that beautiful layering, with 2 sets of Bacon goodness, and sausage as well as chorizo. Each bite was different and each was PERFECT. Except for one thing – I want to try a true breakfast version – Omit some of the sweet sauce and add the eggs….. Hmmmmmm… I better get to work…..
Flashback to 2007! (insert trippy graphics and sound effects here!)
OK, so those who know me understand that I like Bacon. Those same folks also know that when I get into the kitchen, I don’t do things halfway or make anything easy for myself. When I decide to do something with food, it is never simple nor it is in small batches.
This was the case with Bacon. When I first decided to make it, the butcher shop at my local gourmet store was my first stop. “Do you have Pork Belly?” I ask – “Sure, we can order it – $7.50 a pound.” Huh? I am paying more for the Belly than what it would cost for me to buy the finished product? But I am a sucker, so I went for it. When the pork belly arrived, it was about an inch thick at its thickest point. This was NOT what I imagined. Off It went to the kitchen to cure, then to the smoker to smoke, then to the pan to cook – It was just OK. Between the practically miniscule piece of pork that cost more than already cured “boutique bacon” and the enthusiasm of a first-timer deciding to mix-and-match recipes to get the perfect balance (Garlic and Maple flavors go together, right?), the final product was as you would imaging – Ug!
Jump ahead to few months later – I’m wandering the aisles of my new favorite Asian market, Super H Mart, after a quick bowl of Kim-Chee soup, and what do I spy in the corner of my eye? Packages of cut-up Pork Belly, shrink-wrapped in the butcher case! So I knock on the door of the meat department – The guy that answers speaks NO English. Ok, so I grab a pack of belly and use hand signals to convey what I need. He nods his head, says something I don’t understand, and shuffles into the back. I wait.
And wait.
And wait. After what seem eternity, he comes out empty-handed and my heart sinks! but he motions for me to follow him into the back, and I do. Now most people don’t get to see where their meat comes from (which is probably a good thing), but I arrive into an extremely well-lit, very clean back area with the usual saws, knives, etc – and about 10 dudes running around doing their, well, “butchering” on all sorts of machines that remind me of shop class in high school – not what I expected at all. No blood, no smell, and It looked like everyone still had 10 fingers.
My little friend then shows me to his table. There, spread out in all it’s glory, is a big old pork belly with the ribs still attached (Sorry – no camera then!) Through more hand signals – Think of “karate Kid” and not the ‘wax on” part, I understand that the butcher wants to know if I want it with or without ribs (without please – Lets try to keep it simple this time!) After about 2 minutes of cutting and wrapping, I am handed my new bundle of joy. The best part, though is is price – $1.10 a pound! Now this is something I can afford without having to hire the Pups out as sled dogs in the winter!
I should have taken a photo of the whole belly – But by the time I though to grab the camera, I had already neatly cut it into 2 big squares ready for curing and smoking. Yes, I was a BIT excited when I got home that day and couldn’t wait to start, as you could probably imagine.
More on bacon later – In the meantime, you can check out the Photos
