Here at The Glittering Eye I generally post about unimportant things. Economics. Foreign policy. Politics. Occasional forays into archaeology, television, movies, dogs, family history.
In this post I’m going to get serious. Let’s talk ham. I’m looking for a really good source for country ham.
The smokehouse from which I ordered my country ham for thirty years is, sadly, out of business. A generational thing, I suspect. I haven’t found a satisfactory replacement.
For a smokehouse the cure is a bit like the marinara in an Italian restaurant. It’s used, possibly with some variations, in practically everything and, if you like it, you may like most of the things there but, more importantly, if you don’t like it, you probably won’t like anything there.
So, I’m soliciting recommendations. Do any of my readers have a good source for country ham?
I think that preferences in ham may well be a regional thing. I’m a Missourian and my dear departed smokehouse was in Arkansas. I could order a Boone County ham but I only know of one smokehouse from which I can get them mailorder.
Ideas?
Sorry, but if meat isn’t organic I don’t eat it.
I’m not a big fan of country ham, but I’ve found that if you e-mail chefs about details, they’ll get back to you. Try Alton Brown.
I’ve received answers from John Folse, Jon Bonnell in Ft. Worth, Commander’s Palace in New Orleans.
Try vonkrag@gmail.com. He works in Minneapolis with other chefs. Together they might come up with a source for you.
And he loves your pumpkin chiffon pie.
http://www.jpmeats.com/
in New Franklin, MO. Great ham, but I don’t know whether they will mail them.
Well, if we can talk ham…..
This is off topic, and for Dave. But anyone into good musical recordings listen up. One of the two rags I read re: high fidelity is The Absolute Sound. The latest edition just arrived and what caught my eye was t heir music review of a 50 set of Decca r ecordings.
For those who don’t know, after decca caught up with EMI they have one of the greatest selections of classical music ever recorded. Dave, I know you tend more toward opera, and this compendium t ends more towards classical recording from full symphonies to quiet little piano sonatas, but it apparently has been done fabulously.
Worth a look.
Another chef worth trying is Bingo Starr at the Carriage House in Natchez:
http://www.stantonhall.com/carriagehouse.htm
First time I ever went to Natchez was for the Natchez Spring Pilgrimage. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it that’s a tour of mostly private antebellum houses. It goes on from about now until the second week of April.
That was more than fifty years ago and things have changed quite a bit since then. It was quite hot and outhouses were still in use. The smell was indescribable. The houses were grand, though.
I was a kid then and I found the open, overt, in-your-face legal segregation frightening. As I say, things have changed a lot since then.
Things have changed a lot, though there are still pockets. But the Carriage House does welcome people of color now as guests in the dining room, not just waiters. Miscegenation still ain’t cool. but we have an old population in the area. Not a good place to make a living.
Another chef you could try is Regina Charboneau of Twin Oaks. She should know a lot about country ham. As far as I know, she still writes on food for the Atlantic.
Or try the junior leagues in Arkansas or Missouri. They’ll know where the food is.
Dave — when you find a good one, carbon-copy me with the address. My wife and I love country ham! We’ve actually found a restaurant down here in Houston that does a good country ham dinner (Kelley’s), and I’ll try to find out where they get theirs.
You’re in the right neck of the woods, Greg. By my reckoning you’re just at the western edge of country ham territory. Maybe a bit west of it.
Nothin’ good ever came out of Houston, says the Dallasite.
When we’re in Natchez, we eat at the Kings Tavern, a bit of history, a bit of steak, a bit of the supernatural.
We used to get the occasional ham from a local deli that got it from Arkansas, but its closed, the deli that is. I would imagine the source from Arkansas was not uncommon or unique.
King’s Tavern just closed.
Then where in damnation did I east last night?
That sucks.
You were there last night? I thought it had closed. It’s been the talk of the town.
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2012/02/26/king%e2%80%99s-tavern-closes-its-doors/
Sorry, Janis, I was joking. Classic ghost story spiel; a person stays somewhere and has an incredible experience, only to learn from locals later that the place had closed/burnt down years earlier.
BTW/ Are the azaleas blooming? I am heading to Alabama (and Eastern Mississippi) in a few weeks.
Just shows you how much I get out.
If ours are any indication they’ll have peaked and gone by then.
Email specs and and I’ll try Guy and Dave this week at the coffee house. My brother and I don’t ususally socialize together, but they’re restauranteurs and he’s a friend. He probably has Ms. Pagel’s book.