City Swine?
This weekend the Spoonstress and I strayed a bit into what we like to call "The Counnntry." As I've been known to do, I used the trip as an excuse to find somewhere fun to eat. This time it was Jones' Lunch, in bucolic Clayton, N.C.At this hot dog haven, the Spoonstress and I sat at the lunch counter and had a front row view of the menu board. On the breakfast side, I noted a peculiar distinction. The eatery served eggs either with country or city ham. Now I'd seen plenty of menu mentions for country ham, but never considered the alternative: city swine.
So what's the difference? According to the Food Network's site, "A city ham is basically any brined ham that's packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked 'ready to cook', 'partially cooked' or 'ready to serve'. Better city hams are also labeled 'ham in natural juices.'"
Huh? Not much distinction made there.
The Cook's Thesaurus is more helpful. "City hams are the most common [hams]. They're soaked in brine (or injected with it) and then boiled or lightly smoked. Many gourmets prefer country hams, which are dry-cured and then smoked and aged for added flavor."
Apparently, city ham is what you and I call "ham." And it's likely that the crew at Jones Lunch needed to specify between the two because they're a bit "counnntry." It's interesting, though, that even out in Clayton, country ham retains its adjective. That may be because the town is only 15 miles from Raleigh. But help me out readers--if one strays far enough from wi-fi zones and cell coverage, does country ham ever become plain old "ham?"
So which kind did I try? Neither. It was after breakfast time and I'm not a big fan of ham. But I did continue my proud procine run, having a hot dog and a cheeseburger. (In my defense, franks are Jones' signature dish.) I ordered mine with mustard and relish, which the waitress edited to mustard and "dill pickle." The dog came topped with pickle chips sliced in half. It was delicious, but I'm not so sure what I'd call it--a city dog or a country dog?
posted by JB @ 10:04 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
OMG, Forkster, this is such an important topic. I'm so glad you brought it up.
You're right, most menus around here specify "country ham" when listing their biscuit offerings, but I'd say that's just for the benefit of city folk. At my grandparents' house (in Moore County), it's just called a plain old ham biscuit. Because, of course, one would never dream of serving brined ham (a.k.a., "the ham one has on Thanksgiving Day") with a biscuit. You'd never need to specify, because one just wouldn't do such a thing.
I checked out my Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, and sure enough, they have an entire entry for country ham! It's pretty long (written by Southern historian John Egerton), but I'll hit some of the highlights:
-- CH is a 19th c term for a pork delicacy that has been known and loved in Asia and Europe for more than 2,000 years!
-- It is the hind quarter of a hog that has been cured with salt, colored and flavored with wood smoke, and hung up to age through a summer or longer.
-- Colonists brought with them the practice of salt curing as a method of meat preservation.
-- CH emerged in this area because the South had the perfect combination of winter cold for slaughtering pigs (a must) and the summer heat for curing the meat.
-- Modern technology has developed short-cut methods of duplicating the appearance of CH, but not its taste. Most commercial CHs on the market have been artificially cured, smoked, and aged, but lack the rich flavor of traditionally cured CHs.
-- A bare minimum of nine months is req'd to complete the entire process, but a full year, or even two, is considered ideal.
There's a lot more, but you get the gist.
I'm going to have to visit Bojangles in the morning -- this has got me a-hankerin'!
Mamabird--Awesome! When I asked readers to weigh in, I may or may not have been directing the question at you. OK, I was.
That's some stellar research, and John Egerton is certainly a credible source on ham. Enjoy your Bojangles (plain old) ham biscuit. Maybe you can ask them what kind of ham it has just to mess with them...
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