Over the years we have argued - to any ham devotee who would listen - that the Smithfield, along with its lesser-known compatriots from Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, is a world-class ham fully capable of being used as their more revered international compatriots are: added uncooked to dishes as a kind of flavoring agent, rather than served in slabs as a hearty entree.
Country hams from elsewhere in the South are cured in the same way but may not necessarily be aged as long.Įven Smithfield fans, though, shy away from eating it uncooked, as they would prosciutto. Part of this ham’s appeal is its pedigree, which is enforced by a 1926 Virginia law that makes it illegal to call a ham ‘genuine Smithfield’ unless it has been dry-cured, then aged for a minimum of 180 days within the Tidewater town of Smithfield. There is, however, one American ham that has been considered worthy company to these others: the Smithfield ham of Virginia. This lack of gustatory respect is quite unwarranted, since the best American hams are produced with the same delicate care, using the same procedures as the other great dry-cured hams of the world: the Yunan hams of China, the serranos of Spain and the Westphalian hams of Germany, in addition to prosciutto. The same knowledgeable cooks who prize the rich, complex flavors of prosciutto tend to think of its American cousins as if they were watery canned hams, fit only for boiling or baking and eating in thick slices. But when it comes to America’s own dry-cured, aged country hams, a curious kind of culinary inversion seems to prevail. Or at least a ham.ĭuring the decade-long craze for all foods Italian, Americans have come to appreciate the many virtues of prosciutto and have learned to handle it with a certain amount of respect. “If a prophet is without honor in his own country, sometimes a pig is, too.
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