Kentucky Aged Country Hams - Newsom's

Every so often, as a food enthusiast, if you look long and hard, you’ll run across someone in the food world you’re quite confident has “Got the news”. This is someone that when you’re in their world, you feel very fortunate because you know in no uncertain terms that artisans like this aren’t often found anywhere.
They’re people that are bursting with excitement from within because they can see the immense joy they’re bringing you as a customer; you and most likely many, many others.
Symbiotic smiles tell each other during your conversation that something special is awhirl.

This was my recent experience with “Colonel” Nancy Newsom Mahaffey, owner of the famous Newsom’s country store in Princeton, Kentucky.
After reading Peter Kaminsky’s wonderful book called “Pig Perfect”, I was certain that our next road trip down to Kentucky would most certainly include a stop in the country town of Princeton.
The accolades bestowed upon this amazing 87 year old family run operation have been numerous, being first recognized nationally by none other than James Beard. Twenty years ago, Beard claimed that Newsom’s produced the best aged hams in America.
Newsom’s country hams are produced with no nitrates or by any other artificial means; just salt, sugar, and hickory smoke. The number, nationally, of operations making aged country hams in this pure and simple way are few. Even the famous Smithfield hams are barely aged for more than 6 months, the legal minimum if they are to be called aged. They are hardly produced today in anywhere near the traditional fashion that made them famous such as fattening the pigs on peanuts and aging them a minimum of 1 year.

Hams made by Newsom are usually aged for 12 to 14 months and sometimes up to 22 months.

As Trix and I milled around the general store buying up everything in sight, Nancy filled us in about her hams and the basics involving the history of their business. For most of their operational years, the business wasn’t centered primarily around hams but of being a general store. For most his life, Nancy’s father and the business’ former patriarch, Colonel Bill, would make traditional aged hams in limited quantities for mostly the local population. Although the Colonel has passed on, his curing process has remained unchanged under the guidance of his daughter Nancy.

We ordered some basic ham sandwiches as we waited for her to prepare and wrap our ham. Usually, I’m not a ham sandwich sorta guy, but the quality of even their basic smoked ham was beyond belief. No doubt the best sandwich-on-the-run I’ve ever had. Even the fact that they served it with some poor, generic bread made no difference. This ham was spectacular!!


Meeting people like Nancy Newsom in a setting like Princeton, Kentucky is, for me, what the love of food and road trips are all about.



Colonel Bill sitting in the ham house or "treasury"with his beloved hams



Trix with Colonel Bill's daughter, Nancy, the present owner



Newsom's country store in Princeton, Kentucky


Newsom's


Newsom's
208 East Main Street
Princeton, KY
270-365-2482

OK, pantingly jealous...how long does it take to get there?

Pigmon,

Great pictures, I'm drooling with a stomach rumble before I take off for lunch. Too bad I can't make the 7 hour drive in 7 minutes. I would take a long lunch today.

I have always liked ham, particularly ham sandwiches. While driving through KY about 15 years ago, I stopped in Bowling Green and had one an epiphany about a good country ham sandwich. They even put Miracle Whip on it and it was good. Personally I"m a mustard guy with ham. Ham, white bread, and mustard. Nothing else is needed.

I guess I will be pulling out the old credit card tonight to place an order.

Too bad about the bread. That's my issue with places like Barbara Ann's and Harold's and Honey1, and Allen & Son and those lobster roll places in Maine and the lunch plate places in Hawaii...

I kid. That place looks great, and I have heard nothing but good things. Ham and bourbon, and maybe a cigar. Nice way to spend a day.


PS, Bruce, if you are ever in West Virginia, you need to try a big country ham biscuit from the Tudor's chain. I went all the way, ham, cheese, eggs, hashbrowns and butter, all on a scratch biscuit. (I'd hold the oval, McD's style hash brown next time). There's one set down right between a coal plant and a nuclear plant just past Charleston.

http://www.tudorsbiscuits.com/menu.cfm

LTH,

Thanks to the over the top generous nature of a couple of friends I have a Col. Bill Newsom Country Ham hanging in my basement. I'm going to let it age a while and ponder what to do with my Pig Perfect treasure.

Col. Bill Newsom Country Ham


Enjoy,
Gary

A disturbing image, that.

But seriously, I'm interested in the use of medical gauze, like something that might cover a burned appendage, rather than the traditional canvass bag. I assume this lets her breathe better.

What really disturbs me, besides the Gacy's rec room air of that photograph, is that I own two of the exact items in that photo (neither of them, alas, the ham).

Do notice the location of the ham in front of the exercise bicycle. Is this a new variant of the carrot and stick cliche?

JeffB wrote:But seriously, I'm interested in the use of medical gauze, like something that might cover a burned appendage, rather than the traditional canvass bag. I assume this lets her breathe better.

Jeff,

Not medical gauze, high strength plastic netting that came with the ham.

Mike, Cathy, maybe I should have posted the pic in Guess the Basement.

Enjoy,
Gary

Mike G: "What really disturbs me, besides the Gacy's rec room air of that photograph, is that I own two of the exact items in that photo (neither of them, alas, the ham)"

One assumes, of course, that you're speaking of the skis and the faded-to-green danceuse print??

Geo

Actually, the Step-er-cize thing next to the skis, and the Crate & Barrel wine rack.

A Kentucky Ham Tradition Endures, From the Back of a Truck

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/dinin ... -ipad&_r=0

We stopped at Newsom's about a month ago during Princeton's art fair. Newsom's never changes, it's like stepping back into the 60's. Big changes in Princeton though, it's gone wet (most of Kentucky is still dry). New restaurants and even a couple of bars! We served the ham baked, fried, cut up in beans and made some spectacular ham biscuits. We also picked up some of their ham salad and seasoning hocks. Newsom's is the best country ham I've ever had.

There are still a few places making real Country Hams but they are dwindling. Recently Scott's (Kentucky) went out of business.
We currently source our Country Ham from Rice's.
I suspect that the difference in taste is due to different bacteria in the aging process as every Country Ham I have purchased over the decades does have s slightly different taste, smoke and salt level and the product seems to be fairly constant from year to year for the same producer.
Salt level and smoke also seems to vary between producers with a Gwaltney ham leading the way in salt and smoke.-Richard