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Ham
it up with meaty slices
between beaten biscuits
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On May 7, people will gather at Kentucky Derby parties on
both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line to enjoy the spectacle
and excitement of the 131st Run for the Roses. Tradition
dictates white suits for the men and ornate hats for the
ladies. On the buffet table, perhaps there’s a large
chafing dish of burgoo (a Kentucky stew that can be two or
three days in the making and may include everything from
chicken, rabbit, beef, veal and marrow to a half-dozen vegetables
and beans); a smoked country ham and a big platter of beaten
biscuits; and that marvelous combination of chocolate and
walnuts called a Derby-Pie.
I’m not such a stickler
for details that I’m willing to spend several days
stewing meats and vegetables into some kind of Southern goulash.
But I have always been fascinated by the Southern predilection
for ham and biscuits. First of all, the dry cured and smoked
hams of the South bear no resemblance in flavor, texture
or method of preparation to the deli hams or Easter hams
common to us Yankees. They are actually closer to the cured
hams of Italy or Spain, the prosciutto and serrano hams you
see sliced paper-thin and wrapped around melon slices. Country
hams are packed in salt and cured at 38 degrees for at least
40 days and then “smoked” at 80 degrees for as
long as 180 days. Now that’s slow-cooking.
The result
is a unique concentration of ham flavor and subtle smokiness.
(By law, a country ham must lose at least 18 percent of its
weight during aging and curing.) Country hams can be ordered
online, or you can try local purveyors like Brestensky’s
in Freeport. The hickory-smoked country hams there are less
salty but every bit as authentic and flavorful as their counterparts
from Dixie. As for the biscuits, these are not the light
and delicate kind you whip up from the buttermilk mixture.
This recipe actually predates the availability of baking
powder and baking soda as leavening agents. Cooks found that
by folding and beating their dough, they could create layers
that expanded during baking to provide flaky results. A look
at 1800s vintage cookbooks proves that not all reviews were
positive.
“This is the most laborious of cakes, and also
the most unwholesome, even when made in the best manner.
We do not recommend it; but there is no accounting for
tastes. Children would not eat these biscuits—nor
grown persons either, if they can get any other sort of
bread. When living in a town where there are bakers, there
is no excuse for making Maryland biscuit”
Eliza Leslie
New Cookery Book (1857)
Nonetheless, an avid fan base seemed to develop along the
way.
“ In the Virginia of the olden time no breakfast
or tea-table was thought to be properly furnished without
a plate of these indispensable biscuits.....Let one spend
the night at some gentleman-farmer’s home, and the
first sound heard in the morning, after the crowing of the
cock, was the heavy, regular fall of the cook’s axe,
as she beat and beat her biscuit dough.....Nowadays beaten
biscuits are a rarity, found here and there, but soda and
modern institutions have caused them to be sadly out of vogue.”
Virginia Cookery Book (1885)
Are these biscuits more labor-intensive? Definitely. But
they actually hold up better to the chewy texture of the
country ham, last several days in an airtight container and
are devilishly addictive. This Derby Day, I intend to celebrate
with the real thing. Now where did I put that black organza
chapeau?
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