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Just as the nation's gourmands have reached consensus on the superiority of country ham (the traditionally dry-cured hind hog quarter considered by some to be the culinary equal of Italy's prosciutto), one leading exemplar of Southern dining has practically shunted the dish off its menu.
Country ham is still available at Dillard House, the venerable North Georgia boardinghouse that's been overfeeding diners since 1915, but it's no longer among the dozens of all-you-can-eat plates automatically placed on every table. In the culinary equivalent of appointing a new porcine first chair, the restaurant has put sugar-cured "city" ham on its default dish list.
"We still have the country ham in the back for the old-timers who ask for it," a server told us when we visited last month. "But most people today seem to like the sugar-cured."
There's no way of knowing whether the switch reflects transitioning Southern tastes or merely speaks to the cosmopolitan clientele at the tourist-friendly Dillard House, where a Dixie-honed palate isn't a given. Across the country, most eaters seem to favor quick-baked glazed hams, bathed in brown sugar and sweaty with sweetness.
But mountain foods purists, who spit at the very term "sugar cured" -- "sugar is not a curing agent," scholar John Egerton patiently explains in his classic "Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, In History" -- remain partial to country ham, the sometimes bracingly salty product of months of summer smoking.
Sweetness abounds in Southern cookery, as a scan of any fully set Dillard House table confirms: There's a reason the region is renowned for its jams, jellies, soda pops, sweet potatoes and fruit cobblers. Still, as sugar encroaches on recipes for cornbread and barbecue sauce, ham fans hope tradition-keepers like the Dillard House can hang on to their country heritage.
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6-12-2009 @5:06PM Gwen said... So far I can't even find the stuff up here in Massachusetts. I've always used a bit of country ham in my white bean and potato soups. A little bit goes a long way and the sweet stuff is just plain gross.
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6-13-2009 @9:22AM NYYankee in Tenn said... Tom Morales took over the Loveless Cafe here in Nashville a few years ago and prominently features country ham on a menu that pays tribute to traditional Southern cooking but reinterprets it successfully for both natives and newcomers to the region with a lighter, fresher taste. Gotta try the Southern omelet stuffed with diced country ham; breakfast menu available all day. If you can't make it to Nashville, order from their online store, http://www.lovelesscafe.com/.
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6-13-2009 @11:48PM karen said... there is nothing better than country ham. my grandfather made it best, but he passed in 2000. =(
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