Soaking a country ham

Had one of my regular customers give me a whole country ham. Love it, but the salt is too much.

How long do I need to soak it in water to get alot of the salt out?

The first step to preparing a country ham is removing the excess salt. Country hams are salt preserved, meaning that they are dried in salt. This makes them too salty for consumption. To remove the salt, you need to soak the ham. Consider this a reverse brining. By soaking the salted ham in water, the salt is drawn from the meat while adding moisture.

Some say it's necessary to soak a country ham for about 6 to 12 hours. If you have a small ham, around 4 to 5 pounds this might be okay, but I personally like to soak my ham for a long time, about 2 to 3 days. You want the ham to stay cold during the soaking process, but not as cold as your refrigerator. A cooler works perfectly for this as it provides enough space and keeps the temperature under control. Keep the temperature around 40 degrees F. for the best result. Remember to have the temperature low enough to keep any bacterial growth at bay.

As the soaking pulls the salt from the ham you will want to change the water about every 12 hours. This gets the salt out of the way and allows more to come out. When you change the water you should also give the ham a quick rinse to get any salt off the surface. The soaking will rehydrate the ham and make it more edible.

Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

IDT-572 wrote:Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

X2 plus some grits with red eye gravy over

ok what is red eye gravy?

IDT-572 wrote:Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

Now thats a MANS breakfast!!!!!

Larry Williams wrote:ok what is red eye gravy?

Just the best gravy for biscuits in the whole wide world!!!

Red eye gravey is one of those things only grandma can make to perfection . Larry it is just a tad of water carefully poured into a cast iron skillet that has just had a country ham ( that has not been desalted ) cooked in , stirred and simmered .

Yep,I love Country Ham,but I got one a few yrs back and soaked it 24 hrs. We had to throw it out,and our German Rottweiler snarled his nose at it and went back into his house.

IDT-572 wrote:Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

Breakfast is on me !!! Where we going !!!

dfree383 wrote:

IDT-572 wrote:Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

Breakfast is on me !!! Where we going !!!

Ole South, or Bob Evans?

schmitty wrote:

dfree383 wrote:

IDT-572 wrote:Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

Breakfast is on me !!! Where we going !!!

Ole South, or Bob Evans?

Ole South, You going to be in Ownwsboro in January?

The 8 Ball Pool Room was the only breakfast spot open around here today. Ole South and Bob Evans were closed. Dave's been there with Lem and I, however I don't think the rest of y'all have. We'll have to take ya. Biscuits and red-eye gravy is making me hungry just thinking about it.

Uncle Charlie

dfree383 wrote:

schmitty wrote:

dfree383 wrote:

IDT-572 wrote:Sliced and fried country ham with red eye gravy, fresh tomato's, home made buttermilk biscuits, scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes in the ham meat grease, make a Rabbit hug a Hound Dog

Scott a man could get shot around here soaking the salt out of a county ham.

Breakfast is on me !!! Where we going !!!

Ole South, or Bob Evans?

Ole South, You going to be in Ownwsboro in January?

I wish I could go, but I have too much other stuff going on in Jan to make it out there. Blake and KY will be here tonight, and then I'm heading up to Montana to hunt with Doug, and then Big D and crew are coming to do some hunting. Going to have to miss out on Owensboro this Jan.

Well that sucks, but sound like you'll have a blast with the crew.

c.evans wrote:The 8 Ball Pool Room was the only breakfast spot open around here today. Ole South and Bob Evans were closed. Dave's been there with Lem and I, however I don't think the rest of y'all have. We'll have to take ya. Biscuits and red-eye gravy is making me hungry just thinking about it.

Uncle Charlie

Yummy!

Is there something going on in Janurary?

Thanks,
G

Gordy,

No, it's just that Freelander is going to be back in stateside, on "sabatical leave" from the desert world.

Uncle Charlie

Thanks UC...Mike and I were just saying last night at the family Christmas dinner that we were going to miss our trip to KY this year.
Always great info and a great time with the FORD Guys.
G

gdog wrote:Thanks UC...Mike and I were just saying last night at the family Christmas dinner that we were going to miss our trip to KY this year.
Always great info and a great time with the FORD Guys.
G

I hear ya Gordon, I always look forward to the trip to KY and visiting with all of the guys. Gonna miss not getting to visit with you and Mike, and all of the other guys. I hope we can do it again next winter.

gdog wrote:Thanks UC...Mike and I were just saying last night at the family Christmas dinner that we were going to miss our trip to KY this year.
Always great info and a great time with the FORD Guys.
G

When does pulling season start? We need to make a trek up there to watch you guys pull some weight...