Virginia Ham from Life of Fire w/ Tuffy Stone

[Le Grill]

Has anyone seen this recent episode w/ Tuffy Stone?
I want to know more about the ham they cooked, it looked delicious! Must replicate!!

The ham must have been cured already as it looked really pink all the way inside when they sliced it. They didn't say but I think Virginia hams are usually dry cured?
It looks like they left the skin on and cooked it until a very high internal, maybe 200 ish.

Wondering the best way to attempt this at home, do I buy a dry cured ham and smoke it? Or start with Meathead's recipe for wet cured ham?

P.S. Here is a link to the show: https://www.outdoorchannel.com/show/life-of-fire/493711
(I don't get Outdoor Channel, it was on the Tastemade channel.)

[CandySueQ]

I saw about 2/3 of the show (missed the start). I believe it was a fresh, uncured ham which is the bottom front leg of a pig (picnic with skin). The butt at the top of the leg.

[texastweeter]

Virginia ham is a subset of a country ham. They are dry cured, most of the time cold smoked, then hung in a sack or pillowcase for up to 4 years to finish curing. Almost like an Appalachian version of Spanish Jamon. You can usually get them around the holidays, or order them online.

A wet cured ham is a "city ham" and is a completely different beast. It is what you most typically find in lunch meat, or spiral sliced in grocery stores.

I make my own city hams from feral hogs, but have yet to get into country ham myself. This is mainly due to the weather in East Texas not being conducive to the long outdoor curing process.

[DavidNorcross]

Around these parts there is nothing like a country ham.

[Donw]

My family was in the country ham business so I keep the tradition alive by curing a few each year. You can do it yourself, read :

https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/9829d696-2084-4bf8-a9b9-99e1da4cdee9/content

but buying one is the easiest and least time consuming as they need at least a summer sweat to develop flavor.. Virginia and North Carolina sources are all good. You will pay a premium for a Smithfield ham because state law states that to to carry that designation it must be smoked in the town limits of Smithfield VA, however some of the best actually come from around Richmond and North Carolina. One issue you might run into is that it is nowadays a seasonal item most places and if you miss the season you have to wait for the next one.

Good luck.

Kentucky has a good video on the subject:

https://youtu.be/qcwu6K4crHc

[Mosca]

The link goes to previews, I’ll look for the show on my provider. I haven’t seen the episode, so I don’t know what kind of ham it is.

I’ve never caught on to country hams. “Salty shoe leather” is how I’d describe my experience. I probably could have worked harder to understand what I had, but that would have violated my rule of not having to work too hard for good food; why futz around with this weird ham here, when there’s this delicious ham right over there?

[DavidNorcross]

Mosca I know you only eat bread once a month, but one of these days, I am going to make you a fresh batch of homemade buttermilk biscuits with some country ham!