SC - Smithfield Hams...

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Alderton, Philippa wrote:

> A Smithfield ham is a ham made in Smithfield, Virginia. Any ham NOT made in
> Smithfield, Va can only be called Smithfield style. It is smoked, dried
> country ham, aged for a year before it is sold. They keep forever, and like
> a fine wine or aged cheese, only get better with time. If you unwrap your
> ham and discover a mold on it, all you do is scrape it off. In flavor and
> texture, it is much like that wonderful Italian ham whose name escapes me
> now. At about $70 dollars a ham, I'm sure you now understand part of why my
> ex is now my ex.

Ohmygod...I missed that bit of news the first time you posted. I'm so
sorry. Is your ex now your ex because you threw him out when he started
to get old? (as Adamantius nervously examines the fine sprinkling of
Irish, premature grey, salt among the pepper of his hair...)

> : Philippa said:
> : >My ex through out my Smithfield ham which I had intended
> : >to take to Pennsic last year "because it was getting old".
> :
> : What's a "Smithfield" ham and why is it special? It sounds like it
> : has some special processing since the outside appearance is different.

In addition to the fine and informative post quoted from above, it might
help to understand the mystique of a fine ham with a little math lesson.
The fresh hog's leg, whence comes our usual ham, weighs in at around 8 -
14 pounds, and costs out at somewhere around $1.29 - 2.29 a pound, by
the time it makes it to the supermarket or butcher shop. YMMV, but the
math stays pretty much the same. The ham is salt cured, with, I believe,
saltpeter, sugar, and pepper in the case of a Smithfield Ham (The pepper
may be added later, prior to smoking; I don't remember).

It is salted until it has lost almost half of its weight in muscle
fluids. So, the ham now weighs from, say, 5 to 8 pounds. The farmer or
processor now has to sell it for around twice what the fresh leg would
cost, plus the overhead coat of building and maintaining a smokehouse, a
storage shed, buying salt, etc., just to break even. The ham gets
air-dried for a bit, losing further weight to dehydration. It is then
smoked for several days or more, varying according to where you are, the
type of wood used (corncobs, I think?). Finally it is allowed to mellow,
age, ripen, call it what you will, for a year or more.

By the time it is ready to eat, the ham weighs perhaps from 4 to 7
pounds. I don't think they would run much heavier. Bear in mind that in
the eighteen months or morew since the pig was slaughtered, that leg has
provided the farmer or processor zero income. He absolutely needs to
charge a minimum of around $5 a pound to break even. As with any fine,
aged food, there is great demand for quality. It's been a while since I
bought a whole Smithfield ham, but I recall paying perhaps $6.50 a
pound, which was a pretty good price, all things considered.

All decent hams go pretty much through similar processes. The
water-injected, factory made nastiness you can buy in the supermarket is
less expensive, but you really do get exactly what you pay for, and no
more.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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