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COUNTRY HAM

Source of Recipe

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown TVFN, Good Eats, Show #EA1D06: Ham I Am


List of Ingredients

1 country (dry cured) ham
1 liter Dr. Pepper
1 cup sweet pickle juice, optional


Recipe

Unwrap ham and scrub off any surface mold (if you hung in a sack for
6 months you'd have mold too). Carefully remove hock with hand saw.
(If this idea makes you eye your first aid kit, ask your butcher to
do it. But make sure you keep the hock, it's the best friend collard
greens ever had.)

Place ham in cooler and cover with clean water. (As long as it's not
too dirty you can use what southerners call the "hose pipe"). Stash
the cooler in the bushes. If it's summer, throw in some ice. If it's
freezing out, keep the cooler inside. Change the water twice a day
for two days turning the ham each time.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place ham in a large disposable turkey-roasting pan and add enough
Dr. Pepper to come about halfway up the side of the ham. Add pickle
juice if you've got it and tent completely with heavy-duty foil. Cook
for 1/2 hour then reduce heat to 325 degrees F, and cook another 1
1/2 hours.

Turn the ham over, insert an oven safe thermometer (probe-style is
best) and cook another 1 1/2 hours, or until the deepest part of the
ham hits 140 degrees F (approximately 15 to 20 minutes per pound
total).

Let rest 1/2 hour then slice paper-thin. Serve with biscuits or soft
yeast rolls.

Cooks note: Even after soaking, country ham is quite salty, so thin
slicing is mandatory. If you're a bacon fan, however, cut a thicker
(1/4-inch) slice and fry it up for breakfast.

Yield: 20 portions
Prep Time: 48 hours 0 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours 30 minutes


posted by Jamie Rahm on MeatLovers@yahoogroups.com