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Technically, ham is the thigh and buttock of any animal that is slaughtered for meat, but the term is usually restricted to a cut of pork, the haunch of a pig or boar. Although it can be cooked and served fresh, most ham is cured in some fashion. It is a common deli meat.
Ham can either be dry-cured or wet-cured. A dry-cured ham has been rubbed in a mixture containing salt and a variety of other ingredients (most usually some proportion of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite), Sugar is common in many dry cures in the United States. This is followed by a period of drying and aging. Dry-cured hams may require a period of rehydration prior to consumption. A wet-cured ham has been cured with a brine, either by immersion or injection. The division between wet and dry cure is not always hard-and-fast as some ham curing methods begin wet but are followed by dry aging.
The majority of common wet-cured ham available in U.S. supermarkets is of the "city ham" variety, in which brine is injected into the meat for a very rapid curing suitable for mass market. Traditional wet curing requires immersing the ham in brine for an extended period, often followed by light smoking. Traditional wet cured ham includes the English Wiltshire ham and the French Jambon de Paris.
Dry-cured varieties include Italian prosciutto crudo (prosciutto di Parma, prosciutto di San Daniele, prosciutto di Carpegna, prosciutto di Modena, prosciutto Toscano, prosciutto Veneto Berico-Euganeo, Valle d’Aosta Jambon de Bosses, prosciutto di Norcia) and the Spanish Jamon serrano and jamón ibérico (notably the Cured iberic Ham of Guijuelo). The United States has country ham (including Virginia ham), which might or might not be smoked. England has the York ham. Germany's Westphalian ham is usually smoked over juniper, in Belgium there is the smoked Ardennes ham, and from China there is the unsmoked Jinhua ham. In Bulgaria the specific Elenski but is produced.
Ham is also processed into other meat products such as Spam luncheon meat. Baked ham is also a traditional dish served on Easter and Christmas dinner.
In the United States, ham is regulated primarily on the basis of its cure and water content. The USDA recognizes the following categories:
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Fresh ham
is an uncured hind leg of pork.
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Country Ham
is uncooked, cured, dried, smoked-or-unsmoked, made from a single piece of meat from the hind leg of a hog or from a single piece of meat from a pork shoulder.
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Smithfield ham
, a country ham, must be made in or around Smithfield, Virginia, to be sold as such.
For most other purposes, under US law, a "ham" is a cured hind leg of pork that is at least 20.5% protein (not counting fat portions) and contains no added water. However, "ham" can be legally applied to such things as "turkey ham" if the meat is taken from the thigh of the animal. If the ham has less than 20.5% but is at least 18.5% protein, it can be called "ham with natural juices". A ham that is at least 17.0% protein and up to 10% added solution can be called "ham—water added". Finally, "ham and water product" refers to a cured hind leg of pork product that contains any amount of added water, although the label must indicate the percent added ingredients. If a ham has been cut into pieces and molded, it must be labeled "sectioned and formed" or "chunked and formed".
In addition to the main categories, some processing choices can affect legal labeling. A 'smoked' ham must have been smoked by hanging over burning wood chips in a smokehouse, and a "hickory-smoked" ham must have been smoked over hickory. Injecting "smoke flavor" is not legal grounds for claiming the ham was "smoked". Hams can only be labeled "honey-cured" if honey was at least 50% of the sweetener used and has a discernible effect on flavor. So-called "lean" and "extra lean" hams must adhere to maximum levels of fat and cholesterol per 100 grams of product.
Smithfield Ham
One of the most popular and expensive hams in the United States is Smithfield or Virginia ham. Through a special curing process Smithfield ham ages. In that time a fungal coat forms over the outside of the ham while the rest of the meat continues to age. This process produces a distinctive flavor, but the fungal layer must be scrubbed off of the ham before being cooked or served.
Smithfield ham is a specific form of the country ham. A 1926 Statute of Virginia (passed by the Virginia General Assembly) regulates the usage of the term "Smithfield Ham" by stating:
Genuine Smithfield hams [are those] cut from the carcasses of peanut-fed hogs, raised in the peanut-belt of the State of Virginia or the State of North Carolina, and which are cured, teated, smoked, and processed in the town of Smithfield, in the State of Virginia. The peanut feed stipulation was removed in 1966.
Country ham
Country ham is a variety of cured ham from the United States, associated with the Southern United States. It is typically very salty in taste.
Country hams are salt- and nitrate-cured for about a month and may be hardwood (usually hickory and red oak) smoked, then aged for several months to a year. Smoking is not legally mandated for making country ham. Some types of country ham (such as the "salt-and-pepper ham" of North Carolina) are not smoked. The smoking process turns the meat a much redder color than other hams. They are usually sold in stores unrefrigerated as whole bone-in hams packaged in rough cotton bags, with identifying markings printed on the bags. Country ham is also sold in ready-to-cook pre-soaked, pre-sliced packages, usually vacuum-packed plastic sheets.
Whole country hams must be scrubbed and soaked for many hours prior to consumption in order to remove the salt cure and mold, otherwise they will be much too salty to eat. Even when soaked properly, they are still quite salty. There are several methods of cooking a country ham. They include slicing and pan-frying, baking whole, and simmering for several hours (in several changes of water), followed by baking whole.
Country ham is often served in restaurants as an entree as a whole slice, often with the femur cross-section left in. It is also commonly served sliced and then cut into pieces to be used in sandwiches made of buttermilk (or similar) biscuits, sometimes with butter or red-eye gravy. The bone is obviously not left in for this preparation.
Red-eye gravy is closely associated with country ham, and is made by adding water or coffee to country ham pan drippings and cooking it down for a short time.
Country ham can be compared to prosciutto, but prosciutto is not smoked, and is generally moister than a country ham. It is also usually sliced much thinner instead of the thicker traditional country ham "steaks". Even country ham sliced to be used in a biscuit sandwich is cut thicker than prosciutto traditionally is.
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