Luxurious Hams & Chops
We hand-select extra fancy pork to create the finest hams and chops. Trimmed to exacting specifications, our pork is bathed in maple syrup and secret spices and slow-cured for days....giving the meat the sweet flavor that's been prized in New England hills for generations. Our hams and chops are enveloped by natural applewood smoke for nearly a day. The result is a perfect balance of sweetness and smoke to satisfy the most tasteful professional.
Ham Glazes
For a sweeter, glossier glaze, brush ham with a little maple syrup about 30 minutes before it is ready to come out of the oven.
ORANGE JUICE AND BROWN SUGAR GLAZE
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice
½ teaspoon ground cloves
Mix all ingredients together to form a thick paste. Set mixture aside until ready to glaze ham. Makes about 1 cup.
MUSTARD & BROWN SUGAR GLAZE
1 ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup Dijon Mustard
½ teaspoon ground cloves
Mix sugar, mustard and cloves together in medium bowl to form a thick paste. Set mixture aside until ready to glaze ham. Makes about 1 cup.
What to do with leftover ham
- •Turn green salad into a main dish by adding chunks of cooked ham and drizzling with balsamic vinaigrette.
- •Make a quick quiche using finely diced ham, leftover veggies like chopped broccoli or spinach, and a frozen, store-bought piecrust.
- •Spice up your breakfast routine by tucking finely chopped ham, green peppers, and onions into an omelet.
- •Have a filling lunch by topping a baked potato with diced ham, shredded cheddar cheese and steamed broccoli.
- •Whip up ham salad by tossing finely chopped meat with equal parts celery and onion, and a dollop of mayonnaise or mustard. Enjoy with wheat crackers or on a rye roll.
- •Add flavor to your soups by adding the ham bone and some diced ham when cooking—especially in bean or lentil soups or chowders.
- •Create an incredibly easy and light eggs Benedict by topping one half of a toasted wheat English muffin with a thin slice of ham, one poached egg and a dollop of store bought hollandaise sauce.
- •Toss diced ham with cooked pasta, a few drops of olive oil, steamed green beans or broccoli, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
- •Make a colorful pasta salad with tricolor spirals, chunks of ham and mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, sliced yellow bell pepper, and olives. Toss with Italian dressing.
- •Sprinkle chopped ham into brown rice or scalloped potatoes.
Slow Cured Holiday Hams
The wondrous Fall foliage here in Northern New England signal the changing of the seasons and a time when we celebrate the fruits of the past years’ growing season. The County Fairs are in full swing and you cannot drive down one of our back roads without sighting an over laden pickup truck carrying wood thats destin to keep someone’s family warm during the coming winter months.
One of the grandest traditions that we have here in the North Country is preparing our hams in the maple syrup that was harvested a few miles from here in Cornish, NH this past March. The pork is from our friends in Quebec and is the same lean pork that we have bet our reputation on for many years. After brining (the process of marinating the meat) for so many years we have come to realize that this is the most important part of the process. While we do use some “new Fangled equipment” we also realize that Father Time is the most important factor in making a great ham and the ham sits in the marinade for days. As a matter of fact, a friend sent an interesting article about the Slow Food Movement, well that’s what we have been doing up here for 400 years!
Once the pork has been “put down” for days we hang it in the smokehouse for hours in order to cook the ham and bath it in our dark, deep, applewood smoke for many hours. It is a real treat to walk around the outside of the smokehouse on a cold, crisp, autumn morning and just smell the applewood smoke and the hams cooking. It really transports you to another time!
It is very important to us to make only the very best hams available. For years we have sold them to our neighbors and most say that the special occasions at this time of year would not be the same without a North Country Ham. At the request of our friends and customers we have added a number of quality hams over the years starting with our bone in skinless shankless hams. First came our exceptionally lean boneless ham, then a black forest variety. Someone showed us a spiral ham and we thought that was a great idea-pre sliced on the bone. One customer-a fancy caterer in the City- asked us to develop a real fancy bone-in ham with a handle for carving. This new ham is referred to as a steamship ham o ”caterer in a box”.
Please try one of our luscious hams-you will not be disappointed.