"Doug Cutler" > wrote in message hlink.net>...
> 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!
> >
> >

Funny, I ordered this from the Smithfield website and they certainly
do sell a lower-sodium version of their ham.

Jill