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From: "Imo Greenwood" <>
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:51:51 -0000
References: <006601c7040a$72483f70$a2733a18@WinXP><004a01d6b6da$bea66530$2c1092d8@yourxhtr8hvc4p><00fd01c70447$45f67f80$0202a8c0@LAPTOP>


Thanks, I thought it might be like corned beef, which we love with
cabbage potatoes and other vegies cooked in the broth where the corned beef
was boiled. I always take the corned beef out of broth and bake it while
the vegies cook, sure is good.

I had never in my 82 years heard of a corned ham, or seen it in the stores.
The Raley's store in California, did not have it when I lived in CA.

Thanks again. Imo Greenwood

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lee" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 3:37 PM
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982


| "Corned" means it was preserved by soaking or pickling in a brine. Thus
| corned beef or corned ham.
| Once it was pickled it was usually hung & smoked.
| "Country Ham" is cured in a dry salt mixture but either needs to be soaked
| before cooking.
| Dave
| ----- Original Message -----
| From: "Imo Greenwood" <>
| To: <>
| Sent: Monday, November 09, 2020 2:56 PM
| Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982
|
|
| > Here is some what of a dumb question from me, what is a "Corned Ham".
| > Imo
| > Greenwood
| > ----- Original Message -----
| > From: "John S Wilkinson" <>
| > To: <>
| > Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 8:22 AM
| > Subject: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982
| >
| >
| > | STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK
| > |
| > |
| > | Article Tools Sponsored By
| > | By MARY Z. GRAY; MARY Z. GRAY, A WRITER WHO LIVES IN MARYLAND, IS THE
| > AUTHOR
| > | OF A BOOK OF HUMOROUS ESSAYS TO BE PUBLISHED BY ATHENEUM.
| > | Published: December 5, 1982
| > |
| > | Its not true, as some tasteless cynics say, that it takes at least a
| > | 12th-generation southern Marylander to love southern Maryland stuffed
| > ham.
| > | Occasionally one hears of a newcomer - a visitor, even - whose
sensitive
| > | palate quivers with delight at the first piquant bite. Piquant, in the
| > sense
| > | of being pleasantly disturbing.
| > |
| > | Few foods can match the aromatic mixture of sweet boiled ham redolent
| > with
| > | cabbage, kale and onions, laced with mustard seed, celery seed,
crushed
| > hot
| > | red pepper, black pepper and salt. When spiced with a heavy hand,
| > southern
| > | Maryland stuffed ham can curl the tongue and open the sinuses even
| > before
| > it
| > | reaches the lips. Some restaurants tone down the seasoning, but it is
| > never
| > | bland.
| > |
| > | For those who can take it, the dish is especially savored because it
is
| > | available only in southern Maryland, that remote point of the jigsaw
| > puzzle
| > | formed by the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers and Chesapeake Bay. St.
Mary's
| > | County, the real home of the ham, is about 50 miles south of
Washington,
| > on
| > | State Route 5.
| > |
| > | The Ark and the Dove brought the first settlers to Maryland in 1634,
| > landing
| > | at St. Mary's City, near the tip of the peninsula, and there is
| > convincing
| > | evidence that they brought the recipe for stuffed ham from England.
Many
| > | residents of the county are direct descendants of the original
settlers
| > and
| > | have kept the recipe ''in the family'' ever since.
| > |
| > | There are many recipes, each with minor variations. Some call for
| > ''field
| > | cress'' to be added, and the amounts of spices vary according to
| > tolerance
| > | for such high seasonings. But basically, cabbage, kale, onions, spices
| > and
| > | seasonings are chopped and mixed, then stuffed ''with the thumb'' into
| > deep
| > | slits slashed in a whole, corned ham. (That's corned ham, not canned.)
| > |
| > | These 10 or so slits, or pockets, must be cut vertically, and on a
| > 45-degree
| > | angle, each stuffed to the depth of the ham. Any remaining vegetable
and
| > | spice mixture is then packed around the ham, and the whole package
| > placed
| > in
| > | a cloth bag. (Many recipes call for an old pillowcase, sewed or
tightly
| > | tied.) The bag is covered with water and set to simmering for four
hours
| > or
| > | more, 20 minutes to the pound.
| > |
| > | When done, it must cool in the ''likker,'' or juice, for at least two
| > hours.
| > | Then the bag is removed and the excess stuffing repacked tightly
around
| > the
| > | ham, which goes into the refrigerator overnight, to soak up the strong
| > | flavors of the stuffing even more. Total preparation time: close to 16
| > | hours. If you corn the ham yourself, add a few months. The time factor
| > alone
| > | could explain why the dish has never achieved the universal popularity
| > of
| > | the Maryland oyster, which can simply be lifted from the shell and
| > allowed
| > | to slide down the throat.
| > |
| > | The ham is traditionally served cold, and often in a sandwich,
although
| > in
| > | some homes and restaurants it is offered as a hot, main course.
| > |
| > | ''It's a meal in itself,'' says Cuthbert Fenwick 3d, who serves some
of
| > the
| > | best southern Maryland stuffed ham in St. Mary's County at The
Willows,
| > a
| > | mile south of Leonardtown on Route 5. The Willows is a small, family
| > | restaurant with but 10 tables, two booths and a partitioned bar in the
| > back.
| > |
| > | The 28-year-old Mr. Fenwick, who was born and raised in the county,
| > bought
| > | the restaurant a few months ago from Irene Holdson, who ran it for 11
| > years
| > | and who searched the area for an expert in preparing stuffed ham,
| > knowing
| > | instinctively that it took a native to do it right. (Mrs. Holdson is
| > from
| > | ''Ballmer,'' or Baltimore, so does not qualify.) She found her expert,
| > Helen
| > | Schreiber from Mechanicsville, about 15 miles up the road, six years
| > ago,
| > | and Mrs. Schreiber has been preparing the dish for the restaurant ever
| > | since. She is now ''Chip'' Fenwick's head cook.
| > |
| > | Mrs. Schreiber learned the technique and the recipe from her mother,
who
| > | ''used to go around to people's houses to prepare their hams.'' Mrs.
| > | Schreiber's mother had learned from her mother, and back through the
| > | generations, all southern Marylanders.
| > |
| > | At The Willows, simply boning a ham and stuffing the cavity is
| > considered
| > | the lazy and the wrong way of doing the job. ''To get the full flavor
| > | through the ham you have to cut the pockets and stuff each one,'' says
| > Mrs.
| > | Holdson. Another taboo: preparing the ham before the first frost.
''The
| > | stuffing sours too easily to keep it around in warm weather.''
| > |
| > | There are rumors that the dish appears on some Kentucky tables at
| > Easter,
| > a
| > | phenomenon explainable by the fact that a few early Maryland settlers
| > went
| > | to Kentucky in the late 1700's. Otherwise, it remains in St. Mary's
| > County.
| > | Oh, it has traveled a bit for special occasions - a White House dinner
| > | during the Eisenhower Administration, a British Embassy banquet
honoring
| > the
| > | late Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Governor's Mansion, and the Maryland
| > | Pavilion of the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, where 28,000 orders
| > were
| > | served.
| > |
| > | There are numerous stories about the origin of the dish. One says it
| > | originated in the county in the early 18th century when a slave at St.
| > | Inigoes Manor House dished it up as a special Easter treat for the
| > Jesuit
| > | Fathers emerging from their Lenten fast.
| > |
| > | The most credible stories, however, trace the recipe back to 16th
| > century
| > | England. A personal note on George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore,
| > | recorded in English archives of 1599, mentions that as a boy he
partook
| > of
| > | stuffed ham while at the ''ancient family estate'' on the Yorkshire
| > coast.
| > | It was the Calverts, of course, who founded Maryland. ''Stuffed
Chine,''
| > a
| > | familiar recipe in Elizabethan England, called for a ''Bradenham
gammon
| > | (ham) ... cut to the bone with slots and a mixture of herbs and lots
of
| > | parsley pressed in, tied in muslin and boiled.''
| > |
| > | Although there seem to be no traditional vegetables or condiments
served
| > | with the ham, beaten biscuits are often put on the table when it is
| > prepared
| > | in homes in the county. These biscuits, which resemble small
| > cannonballs,
| > | and are almost as hard on the outside, are beaten (with an axe, says
one
| > old
| > | recipe) for no less than 20 minutes before baking. Restaurants do not
| > | feature them.
| > |
| > | The Willows charges $2.50 for a stuffed ham sandwich, while the ham
| > plate
| > is
| > | $7.95 with vegetables and salad, plus individual loaves of homemade
| > bread
| > | and coffee. The ham is served only in winter. The restaurant also
serves
| > a
| > | seafood imperial dinner, with shrimp lobster and crab, for $8.75. (The
| > | Willows is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 A.M. to 11 P.M and on
| > | Monday from 11 to 3; in summer it opens on Sunday, 1 to 9.
| > |
| > | The few other St. Mary's County restaurants - there are not many down
| > there
| > | -that also serve authentic stuffed ham include the St. Mary's Landing
on
| > | Route 5 in Charlotte Hall, and the Belvedere Motor Inn on State Route
| > 235
| > in
| > | Lexington Park. At the St. Mary's Landing, the ham sandwich costs $2;
| > and
| > | the ham with a vegetable, salad and bread is $3.50. A stuffed ham
dinner
| > | costs $6.95. The Belvedere lunch menu offers ham on a roll, with
| > coleslaw
| > | and french fries, for $2.65. On the dinner menu it is a cold platter
for
| > | $9.25, including an appetizer, salad, choice of potato, three
vegetables
| > and
| > | rolls. Both places are able to serve the ham the year round because of
| > their
| > | large cold-storage spaces.
| > |
| > | John S Wilkinson, Rome, New York
| > |
| > |
| > |
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| >
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