The news page

stan · Post by **stan** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:59 pm

Well, I suppose country ham technically is uncooked, but not exactly raw, either. It is smoked, salt cured, and pretty dry when the process is complete. . And it is usually fried before being eaten.
Also cooked with vegetables as a seasoning. (salt pork or fatback).
Is that true of your parma ham?
By the way, that sounds like a town in Italy.

And I wouldn't say we eat a "wide" range of uncooked or raw meat & fish in the US. How about a "narrow" range?
Beef jerky (pemmican)....er...er...
Sushi doesn't count!

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:48 pm

uncooked, but not exactly raw

Um... I'm missing something here Stan, but I thought the only difference between the hams was whether or not they were sugar cured or salt cured. Even sugar cured hams used to be smoked, as I saw in my Grandfathers smokehouse.

And both are cooked as usual. I've had country ham, after cooking, and found it too salty for my taste but many people in Tennessee love it.

Aside from some imported stuff like sushi, I don't know of any raw meat being eaten in the States. I'm probably missing one though.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:18 am

Parma is a town in Italy Stan, the ham is named from being traditionally prepared there, and it's sold as 'cooked meat' here!

stan · Post by **stan** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:51 pm

Well, Beagle and Digit, I don't think you are missing much.
I was countering Marduk's suggestion that Parma and Country ham
should be included in the "wide range" of flesh we still eat raw or uncooked.
Beagle, I grew up on country ham, but I no longer eat it.
I had an uncle who kept pigs, and I have witnessed a couple of butcherings...I once saw some blacks in my hometown doing it in their front yard. But I never saw the preparation of the hams.
Too salty as you say, and too greasy for my ventricles.
I forgot to mention oysters in my previous post, along with sushi and beef jerky... THey may be the number one raw flesh eaten in the US.

The above is off topic, of course, but it does relates to how early societies survived by preserving meat and fish (and fruit), simply by drying it in the sun. Clever, huh?

We tend to think of technology as things made out of rock and metal,
like tools and weapons, or architecture. But I think it's important to remember food preparation, the making of clothes, medicine, and other
"techniques" that were essential for survival. But the evidence of them doesn't survive in the ground very well.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 4:42 pm

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham

stan · Post by **stan** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 4:58 pm

I still say "uncooked" is not the same as "raw."

The curing and smoking change it from its raw state.

But its sort of a moot point, because most people cook it
before eating it anyway.

How is that Parma anyway? Do you like it?

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:17 pm

My Granddad's favorite was pickled pigs feet.
Grandma used to tell the story of butchering a pig. They would take all the fat and cook it into lard, then put the pork in large jars cover it with the lard and put it in the potatoe cellar.
You can get all kinds of canned meat and fish and I don't think there's a whole lot of cooking going on there. Some canned tuna I've wondered about.

stan · Post by **stan** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:33 pm

I think our ancestors had more fun in the old days!

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 3:31 am

I've never eaten Parma ham but it's supposed to be very tasty. You mentioned pigs feet Bruce, here we call them 'Trotters' but a lot of meat cuts now a days have vanished as the supermakets take over and I doubt very much if 'Trotters', 'Brawn', 'Lights' etc even mean much. Pig's ears are fed to dogs and sausage skins are made of plastic instead of Pig's intestines.
It's called progress.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:32 am

what about tripe (Arch's favourite)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripe

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:20 am

Only once in my life have I attempted to eat tripe. It was given to me in hospital where I had been admitted with appendicitis. It is well named, I thought the staff had slipped me some surgical tubing! Ughh!

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:31 am

this is what they are now using to generate menus in hospital
you'll be glad to know that tripe is no longer on the menu
http://195.92.246.148/nhsestates/better ... lector.asp
mmmmm

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:18 pm

You're right Marduk, I am, very glad.

stan · Post by **stan** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:00 pm

Pig entrails are eaten by some southerners (mostly African-American)
and are called "chitlins" or "chitterlings."
They smell and taste foul. I worked at a small predominantly African-American college here in the seventies, and these were served to
the faculty in the dining hall.
In the period of slavery, the story goes, the slaves had to eat the leftovers from the pigs..tails, feet, guts, tongues, etc., as opposed to
"eating high on the hog."

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:14 pm

We know them as chitterlings as well, at least my generation did, I don't know about now though.
So much of what I was raised with is now a foreign country to the younger generation. Over here the 'in' thing is 'organic' farm produce and there is a premium price on food produced with natural fertilizers. I watched a TV programme some time ago about a farmer being taught how to farm organically and I was staggered that he hadn't got a clue as to why he was turning a pile of manure and what he was supposed to do with it.
All that knowledge lost in one generation.