“Grazing is a state of being in the South. In fact, many of our community cookbooks from the twentieth century are front-heavy, with so many more hors d’oeuvre and finger-food recipes than main courses (or even desserts) that it makes you wonder why we even bother with the rest of the meal. It’s actually plain good sense: as any southerner knows, a dizzying array of nibbles in view when your guests arrive is the utmost gesture of hospitality.”
— The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook (Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners)
Alrighty folks, I know that I say everything I post on here looks irresistibly scrumptious, but really, can this delectible concept be beaten? Spicy! Sweet! Salty! Enjoy! (And if you follow this recipe we want to hear from you how it turned out. And then we want you to FedEx us some.)
Buttermilk Biscuits with Kentucky Ham, Molasses Butter & Creole Chile Jam
(From Convivial.org)
One of my favorite Southern appetizers is a ham biscuit — Kentucky smoked ham on a buttermilk biscuit — it’s that simple. However, because it’s only two things put together, the biscuits better be great and the ham even better.
A real, aged country ham is remarkably different in flavor and texture from a mass-produced ham. An authentic country ham is considered the South’s prosciutto — it’s smoky, wild, gamy and salty.
Col. Bill Newsom’s Kentucky hams are hand-cured (nitrate & nitrite free) using a 200 year old family method, slow-smoked over hickory, and hung for several months to age. This traditional, painstakingly long process is becoming a lost art. Not mass-produced or distributed wholesale, these artisan hams are handled only 18 times before arriving at your door with a numbered certificate. Foodies everywhere are grateful to Nancy Newsom Mahaffey (aka, the Ham Lady) for continuing her grandfather’s tradition.
Dryness tends to be a problem with just ham on biscuits, especially if they sit for any length of time…
For the complete article and the recipe (!) please click here.
