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From: "Imo Greenwood" <>
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:26:00 -0000
References: <004801c704e1$3141d860$a2733a18@WinXP>


Thanks, John for your reply. I had thought Raley's might have been part of
the chain. Imo

----- Original Message -----
From: "John S Wilkinson" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 9:59 AM
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982


| The Raley's store in St. Mary's County is not a chain Store. It is not
part
| of the Raley's chain in CA.
|
| John S Wilkinson, Rome, New York
|
|
| -----Original Message-----
| From: [mailto:]
| On Behalf Of Imo Greenwood
| Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2020 10:52 AM
| To:
| Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] MARYLAND STUFFED HAM WITH A KICK- December 5, 1982
|
|
| 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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