A little bit off topic:
My wife and I stayed at an inn in the North Carolina mountains a while
ago. For breakfast I ordered Country Ham, eggs, etc.. The waitress asked
me very seriously if I knew what I was ordering. I replied very cheerfully
"Yes". She then said that she had to inform me that it was not
returnable/refundable, they had had too many complaints that the ham was bad
because it was too salty.
We have a Virginia Country Ham every year, drive up to Emporia to get it.
My wife soaks it for about 24 hrs, changes the water two or three time, then
cooks it and glazes it. This is luxury food, well on a par with the
European hams. Thin sliced on country biscuits, oooo, just waiting for
Christmas to come around.
Doug.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 9 Nov 2003 07:10:43 -0600, "jmcquown"
> > wrote:
>
> > Kent H. wrote:
> > > I have tried to cook a number of Smithfield hams unsuccessfully,
> > > including soaking for 24 hours in the basement with several changes
of
> > > water to desalt before cooking, and it has never worked quite right.
> > > What do you and what does mother and father do to make it right?
> > > Thanks
> > > Kent
> >
> > This was a bone-in large ham, lower sodium so no soaking necessary.
They
> > simply put it in the large roasting pan on a rack (it barely fit!) and
baked
> > it for 5 hours. I've never cooked a ham like this myself so I really
> > couldn't tell you if there is a secret to it, but I suspect there
isn't.
> > Not sure why yours don't turn out.
> >
> > Jill
>
> I'm solidly in Kent's corner because soaking didn't do it
> for me either. The old fashioned style Smithfield was way
> too salty for my taste, so I haven't given it a second
> thought in years.
>
> Now you've perked my interest!
>
>
>
> ... those bones sound like a great idea too!
>
>