Benton's Bacon Alternative

Sometimes, people like us ruin it for people like us. After appearing in Saveur and other publications, Benton's isn't taking any mail orders until 2008. Although I'm thrilled for their success, I'm sad for my inability to order their products for Thankgiving/holiday gifting. I'm looking for a great bacon mail order substitute for a birthday gift. Can anyone recommend another fabulous, Southern bacon I can order? Thanks much!

purplestar

I've had the excellent country hams from here, I imagine their bacon is pretty good too. Prices seem reasonable.

http://www.scotthams.com/index.php?meth ... GroupsId=3

tom, i just looked at the ham website. i'm always dreaming about ordering a country ham, but have never done it. i once had some incredibly sweet ham from virginia, and hope to find something like that again. but i think alot of country hams are salty. can you describe which you ordered and what it tasted like? and if you bought it uncooked, did it require lots of soaking? thanks

Yes, lots of soaking ... many water changes. It's been a couple of years since I last made one, but it was probably about 24 hours of soaking. The last time I made it was for a special occasion, so I boiled it in a lot of champagne (a cheap one - I'd mistakenly purchased semi-sweet instead of brut), although water is fine, or there's a southern tradition of boiling it in Coca-Cola (boil about 6 hours for a 15 lb. ham). Then I remove the skin, and I can refrigerate until a little before serving, when I put on a glaze and bake 15 - 30 minutes or so.

The best part is the leftovers - shredded, they can be frozen, and are excellent in pastas, omelets, etc.

It was still a bit salty, but the extended soaking mitigated that. But I wouldn't describe it as a 'sweet' ham - that 's more a flavor I associate with city hams.

Neuske's bacon isn't Southern (it's made in Wisconsin) but it is an excellent alternative to Benton's.

If you don't want to pay the shipping, the Niman Ranch bacon that Trader Joe's sells is also quite good.

justjoan-
I've ordered country hams from Missouri for 15-17 years. They are tough to prepare, so go to a place that will pre-cook them for you. If you cook them yourself, you MUST submerge them COMPLETELY in water, and, since you basically get the back leg of a hog, that implies a REALLY big pot and six or eight hours of simmering. Then you cool, drain, skin, and coat with cloves and brown sugar and mustard and reheat, Then carve.

Sound like a lot of trouble? It's the most wonderful food in the world. I still remember when I first tasted it, visiting my father's family farm in Jackson, MO when I was about three years old. I decided within about two seconds I never wanted to eat anything else for the rest of my life.

I haven't achieved that goal, but I get an old, smoked, tough-as-leather country ham every Christmas. The tough part is solved by slicing it VERY thin. You should soak it for a couple of days in many changes of water if you want to reduce the saltiness.

Get it cooked, soak, and bake, YOu'll never go back. Find out about red-eye gravy, too.

mike- and tom- thanks for all the useful advice, but i think i'll being enjoying your ham vicariously. i'm convinced that a country ham would be delicious, but more work than i'm willing to put into it. and then i'd be eating ham for the foreseeable future..... justjoan

"...and then i'd be eating ham for the foreseeable future....." justjoan

Well, there is something to that fear with a whole ham. We knaw on it for three or four weeks and then I slice it up and freeze it. Thin slices for sandwiches, medium slices for frying (did I mention red-eye gravy?) and chunks for grinding in the Cuisinart for the workd's best ham salad.

I've got a few slices still, from last Christmas.

You can go online and find cooked, sliced and vacuum-packed country ham on quite a few sites. This will let you sample a remarkable treat without the hassle I have described which cooled your enthusiasm. Hope you try it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mike

Thanks, all. I've decided to wait until Benton's comes back online in January. Some things are too good not to wait for.