Tennessee Country Ham

earnie

Well-known member
This becomes the star of any brunch during the holidays. Serve with a variety of mustards and homemade biscuits or yeast rolls.

Tennessee Country Ham

1 country ham (salt-cured and aged ham)

6 medium onions

2 ¾ cups brown sugar

2 cup cider vinegar

2-4 bay leaves

24 whole cloves

1 cup dry bread crumbs

2 teaspoons dry mustart

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Cover ham with cold water – soak 1-2 days changing water morning and night and scrubbing lightly with utility brush each time. Place ham on rack in large kettle (turkey cooker). Cover with cold water. Add onions, 2 cups brown sugar, vinegar, bay leaves and cloves. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer 4 ½ to 5 hours for a 15 pounder (approx. 20 minutes per pound). Let ham cool in water overnight.

Four hours before you want to serve it, remove skin and cut off some of the fat and score it. (With some hams, you wonder if you’re going to have any ham left!) Mix remaining ¾ cups sugar, bread crumbs, mustard and ground cloves. (If you have a big ham, I up these quantities about a third.) Pat on ham while fat is moist. Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes until ham is glazed and brown. Let it sit for a little while but slice and serve while ham is still warm.

 
Earnie, this sounds so good! Everytime I see a country salt-cured and aged ham...

...I think of a time when I was very small. My Dad got one of these hams from his boss as a Christmas gift. My Mom didn't know it was salt cured and had no idea how to "handle" it. She baked it like any other ham and, of course, it was basically inedible.

She decided these hams were terrible, and I took that as gospel until I was in my mid-twenties and I finally tasted a properly prepared country ham. Oh my goodness! They are so delicious.

Little did I know, all those years...

Michael

 
Despite the soaking

Despite the soaking, I always have to warm friends of the high sodium content. But so yummy and worth the indulgence.

 
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