'flute-
Get ahold of
Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse
1157 N Kingshighway St
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
(573) 335-9283
and order a Christmas ham. They're very reasonably priced and, boy, they are SMOKED!
Make sure to tell them to cook it for you, because cooking them is a real chore. They have to be
completely submerged in water, and that takes a pan nearly as big as your bathtub, because what you get is not a dinky little ham, but the hind leg of a hog.
Right now they offer Christmas hams which have been hung up for as long as five or six months. The rest of the year, they just have hams hung for a couple of months. They are delicious, too, but not nearly as knarly as the long-hung Christmas hams.
They send them with preparation instructions, but if you or anybody else want a little explanation, PM me and I'll fill you in - I've been getting one every year for the past 20 or so.
They also have bacon, sausage, and smoked cheese (though the cheese is a process cheese, it's still pretty good.)
There are great country hams from Virginia, Maryland, and most southern states, I know, but I've got a soft spot for the Missouri hams, because my father's family farmed for generations near there and until a few years ago my uncle continued to dress his own pigs and cure them. That's where I got my first tast of MO country ham, when I was about two years old. I still clearly remember thinking there was no reason to eat anything else for the rest of my life.
I understand that in New Hampshire, they smoke their hams with corn cobs. Frankly, I do not know how to relate to this.
Mike
