SC - Birthday Wishes

[Lurking Girl]

Seton1355 at aol.com wrote:
> 
> I'm really intrigued with this topic.  Now, you gotta understand that I grew
> up in a strictly kosher home and live in a modified kosher home myself... so
> I have no clue when it comes to pig.

Don't worry, this will all come in handy when you get hold of a fennlaar
(Par? Nanna? Spelling?). Think mutton ham.

> Now, I want to ask some questions:
> 
> <<  (snip)  and that some Virginia hams, and others which used to require
> soaking, scouring, and parboiling, ...>>
> 
> How do you scour a ham and what are you trying to get rid of  (dirt?) The
> only thing that comes to mind is a Brillo pad. And why would you par-boil a
> ham if you were going to cook it in a dish anyway?  (In Judaism, one is
> supposed to par - broil livers before use and then you can cook them in any
> manner you wish.  This is done to get rid of  the blood)  Is there any
> connection like that in par boiling a ham?  (Probly not...)

Scouring a ham is usually done with a stiff brush, and it removes dirt,
some excess salt, and opens pores in the skin of the ham to facilitate
salt transport for further soaking and parboiling.
> 
> >>>>The fact is, though, that if not soaked and parboiled properly, the
> older-style hams are almost impossibly salty for any kind of serious eating>>>
> So in the middle ages were people just used to very salty ham or did they eat
> it only sparingly too.

The recipes would seem to suggest that, for the most part, eating a
whole ham all at once, was somewhat rare in most of Europe. There are,
however, recipes that speak of whole chunks of roast or boiled meat,
with instructions if the meat be salt, so perhaps some of these
hunks-o'-fleisch were hams.

>  AND  do you do this salt thing to all hams or just
> the bits that you are going to eat later?  Do / did people eat freshly killed
> pig.  AND, while we are on the subject  what is the difference between pork
> and ham?  (It's all treif to me!  :-)   )

Yes, people do, and did, eat freshly killed pigs. A typical farmer's
annual agenda (and I should let Mordonna or Ras talk about this, I'm the
UUY) might include several hogs being slaughtered and processed at once,
with hams, other types of bacon, sausages and puddings being made in
succesion, with hard-to-preserve-cuts like various internal organs being
eaten quickly.

The difference between pork and ham is different today from the
difference in period. Today, ham is usually, but not automatically, the
cured hind leg of the hog, but it can be fresh, too. Bacon is also
usually cured, but the fresh cuts such as belly and loin, that are
sometimes made into bacon, are available fresh.

Once upon a time, you had fresh and salted (and sometimes, in addition
to salted, smoked) pig. Salted (and sometimes y & w, um, I mean smoked)
pig sides (basically the split animal, possibly sans head, was known as
bacon. You had chines of bacon, from the loin near the spine, jambons or
gammons of bacon, taken from the leg, i.e. ham, belly bacon, etc. Some
recipes, therefore, in period, which speak of eating such-and-such with
bacon, aren't specifically referring (at least not always) to the
stripey stuff you see in the supermarket. 
> 
> >>>> and unless properly cooked, have a lot of rather tough connective tissue
> >>>
> 
> uh,,,, yuck!?  All this soaking and cooking softens up the connective tissue??
> (I ask tentitively.)  My bubbie  (grandma) used to buy cheap cuts of meat
> (well we were poor) She used to cook them on the stove, kind of stewing them.
>  For hours ao a low heat.  When they were done, the meat would melt in your
> mouth.   (Oh boy do I miss her now... anyway...)  is this the same type of
> cooking you would do to a connective tissue ham?

Indeed it is. Your bubbie was no fool. Connective tissue isn't
inherently a bad thing, for some cuts of eat it's downright essential
for moistness and flavor. Let's see, now, what would be a good
illustration. Okay, let's try this... you know how, when something like
flanken, or short ribs, or maybe brisket, can be really tough when not
cooked enough, but then they suddenly reach a point where they melt in
the mouth? Well, what's happpening is that collagen, part of the
connective tissue known collectively to meat eaters as "gristle" (along
with less fun things like elastin), is breaking down into gelatin, which
does good things like thickening, enriching, and flavoring gravies, and
moistening and lubricating the meat while you chew it. The connective
tissue in hams is generally akin to the connective tissue in lamb
shanks. Both are tender and yummy when properly cooked.  

>   ALSO, Those huge, net
> wrapped hams I see in the supermarket now for alot of money... are they full
> of connective tissue and salty?
> (Not for the money they are asking for them... I hope)

Salt varies according to the process used, but generally the net-wrapped
hams aren't the kind of hams, such as Smithfield, that require all that
much home processing. They may require baking and/or boiling, but many
are fully cooked. There are usually instructions, I think. The
connective tissue is a function of the cut of meat. The animal was
shockingly inconsiderate when considering its culinary future, so it had
a strange idea that it might use that connective tissue for walking. As
I say, though, there are ways around that. 
> 
> And now a comment for Lord Ras...
> At the next cooks guild meeting, I think we should meet at Wegmans
> (supermarket) and you can take me through the meat dept. and explain all the
> traif cuts to me... fish dept too!   :-)  (just a suggestion)

That sounds like an excellent idea. One of the more fun things to do
around 3-4 AM in New York is to go down to the Fulton Fish Market for a
tour, which can be arranged, most easily for food-service types, with
any of several vendors. Some of them will even sell retail if you're as
cute as I am. And if you're not, _many_ of them will.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com