Take this ham, and.....

Stuff it!!

Well, I’m on my way to becoming a St. Mary’s “county boy”.  If I live here another twenty or thirty years, I might make it.  I did, however, take a step in that direction last weekend (the day before our trek to St. Louis – stay tuned) when I was fortunate enough to be invited to a “stuffed ham” session, our county’s unique food.  One of the local families (“real” county people) has an annual get together to stuff hams for holidays. 

I arrived just in time to see most of the “stuffing” part of the operation.   I’m pretty sure most readers have a good idea of the overall process by now.   You start with a “country ham”, i.e., a fresh ham that has been “corned” by rubbing with salt and left for a number of days (usually somewhere around eleven). Then you take the ham and pierce it all over with a knife (preferably one with character, no fancy “chef” knife), creating little pockets.

The real creativity of this local delicacy comes in what stuffing is used. While not exactly a “secret” most folks are intentionally vague when asked for their recipe.   It varies from family to family, preferences change from North county to South county and are generally highly personal.  All generally include Cabbage, Kale, Onion, and personal preference on spices including more or less red pepper flakes or ground cayenne: “some like it hot” some don’t.  Again, each family has the absolute best recipe.

So you pick your portions and chop stuff and then assemble your stuffing

Put the ham in a pan… and get to work filling each and every one of those pockets.. 

By yourself, or with a buddy

Or a group effort

It is hard work and your fingers get cold, so you really need to have some refreshments

Like (home made) egg nog (another story to be told) or punch, and of course beverages that come in cans.

It is amazing how much stuffing it takes to fill those pockets and how easy it is to miss a couple which will generally be cheerfully pointed out by other stuffers.  But eventually you get the thing filled

And then it gets transferred to a couple of squares of cheesecloth

And then tied into a neat little bundle.

And “Voila!”, your St. Mary's County Stuffed Ham!!

Now you boil it for “a while” let it rest, and slice and serve.

So, after taking the pictures, I was "invited" to put down the Canon, roll up my sleeves and “get your hands busy”.  I did and had a great time.  Talk about hands on food preparation!  Meanwhile the social whirl continued around the house, and I didn’t count all the family folks,  but there were interested people of all ages and numbers of feet

What more could you ask than bringing family and friends together around food, enjoying the company, the libations, bantering, kids chucking around the football in the front yard, talking about Aunt so and so, just being with each other and food at the center.  And in the end, there are the left overs.

And today being Christmas eve, I hope everyone has a chance to be together tomorrow, enjoy some food (there is a lasagna dinner tonight and seventeen pound brisket in our future for tomorrow with the FOJ's and families), be sure to remember those who can’t be with you, and just enjoy the day.  And depending on the level of formality be sure to

DFD