Credit goes to Bill Smith of Chapel Hill’s iconic Crook’s Corner. During a cooking class on oysters that he presented, he happened to mention his family’s holiday tradition of corning hams. “Corning?” I asked. This sounded like a diversion that might lead to something truly rewarding — barbecue. He said that down in Eastern North Carolina when the weather turned cold and his folks slaughtered pigs, they often corned hams. He went on to explain the technique. They would simply cover the fresh hams with salt for 10 days or so and then cook them for the holidays.
His lip-smacking description of his cousins and uncles tucking into one of these holiday hams stuck in my memory and for the past three years, I’ve corned a ham for either Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Last year, I got started late because I had to hunt high and low before I found a 17 pounder. Seven days before I baked it, as suggested in the recipe adapted from Smith’s Seasoned in the South (Algonquin Books), I inserted a knife into either end of the ham next to the bone and filled these incisions with salt. I then blanketed the ham with Kosher salt, tucked it and its large baking pan into an extra-large plastic bag, and stored the ham in the fridge. For the next six days I poured off the liquid that collected in the pan and replenished the salt daily. The night before I cooked the ham, I rinsed it, flushed the salt out of the incisions, and left it soaking in water.
The next morning I put the ham in a roasting pan and baked it “until the meat pulls away from the bone,” for over four hours–long enough so that I was the last person to make an appearance at Christmas lunch. I made a quite a grand entrance, but I think they were waiting for my ham rather than me.
My nephew and my sister started picking at the ham before the knife was even sharpened. “Even better than last year,” was the judgment, which drew others to the platter. It disappeared almost as fast as it was cut and pulled from the bone. And each time I’d see one of my cousins during the year, they’d ask me whether I was going to corn a ham this year.
Determined to get an earlier start this year, I had to compromise with a shoulder, unable to find a large ham which the butchers said wouldn’t be available until nearer Thanksgiving. I, however, corned it for the full 10 days this time and finished it off on the grill, trying to gild the lilly. In my view, the longer time and smaller size resulted in a taste that was too salty. And I don’t think the hour or so on the grill with pecan wood added anything, either. What I’m hoping is that someone else has combined corning and barbecuing and can furnish the clueless cue chef a recipe. Seems to me combining corning and grilling’s gotta be good.
Cue Confessions 