some kinda good

I once heard a Yankee come-here complain about Virginia weddings. “They always have that ham,” she said, with her nostrils flared and eyebrows raised, “and biscuits. AND they act like it’s something special.”

Well, yes. We do. And yes. It is.

Spaniards have serrano, Italians have prosciutto, Tyroleans have speck; we have Virginia ham — country, salt-cured.

My grandmother hung her hams in the smokehouse by the chicken room. Smoke seemed to seep from the wood in the ceiling and the air felt crusty from the salt as it hit the nostrils. I loved to drop by her kitchen for homemade bread with little chunks of cold butter and a thin slice of her ham. Special? You bet.

At Christmas, many homes back then had a baked salt-cured ham waiting in the fridge for “when people dropped by.” A country ham biscuit with a punch cup full of bourbon-laced eggnog was a welcome, singular flavor combination that transported you to Christmas. And everyone agreed that Sue Eustace’s hams were the best. She insisted it wasn’t in the curing, but in the baking. Her recipe is far afield from any other I’ve seen for Virginia ham, and it remains our family’s favorite way to bake them.

It’s Christmastime again, and a native-Virginia friend called last night to ask how to cook a country ham. I thumbed through my recipes and found Aunt Sue’s method for Bill, who will be serving it to his parents, children, and siblings. And here it is for you, too, just in time for Christmas.

Aunt Sue’s Country Ham
Sue Eustace, Catlett, Va.

A roaster with a tight lid or a large baking pan with heavy duty foil to cover.
A whole or half salt-cured country ham

Soak the ham as you normally would. [I soak mine for at least 24 hours, changing the soaking water from time to time.] Scrub the mold, pepper, etc. off the ham.

Preheat oven to 500˚ F.

Put the ham in the roaster pan w/6 cups water. Close as tightly as possible. Put ham in preheated oven; cook for 15 minutes. Don’t open the oven while it is cooking or afterward.

Turn off heat, but leave the ham/roaster in oven. Leave for three hours.

After three hours, without removing ham from oven, reheat oven to 500˚. When the temperature reaches 500˚, leave the heat on for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, but again leave the ham in the oven. This time, leave the ham until it and the oven reach room temperature.

(I usually start this process about four hours before bedtime so that the last heating comes just before bedtime. I leave the ham in the oven until morning.)

A note – it is relatively easy to bone the ham while it is slightly warm or at room temp. Once it is cold, it is too hard to bone.

Trim off skin and serve.