Ham

September 15, 2017
It's virtually impossible to imagine southern cooking without ham. Its smoky, salty essence adds so much dimension to whatever it accompanies. Today's supermarket hams, injected with water and gleaned from industrially raised pigs, is a far cry from artisanal hams so prized by gourmets and discriminating chefs; nevertheless, glazed and studded with cloves, these hunks of rosy meat sit gloriously at the center of many a holiday table. Fowler presents dozens of recipes for ham, both traditional and contemporary. He outlines the differences between wet and dry curing and the contrasts in the resulting product. Recipes range from simple ham and eggs (perhaps not so simple as it sounds if it is to be excellent) through ham salads, ham breads, and ham casseroles. Fowler takes the ham-and-cheese sandwich to its apotheosis in the French croque monsieur. Libraries who own the earlier volumes in the Savor the South series will want to add this one as well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)