Time to sharpen that chef’s knife, santoku or slicer. It’s the only way, for now, to take advantage of the newly released cured ham from Sam Edwards of Edwards Virginia Smokehouse.
It’s the first Surryano ham that he is selling after his smokehouse in Surry, Viriginia, was destroyed in a fire two years ago, and it is not yet available sliced, hence the knife. The European-style hams, cured like prosciutto and serrano from heritage pork, have been smoked for him by generous friends in Kentucky and North Carolina, then aged for 18 months, considerably longer than for regular country ham. Hams from Edwards’s own smokehouse will not be available for at least another two years.
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For now, the assertively salty-sweet hams are sold in boneless 2- to 3-pound chunks and whole. It will be a couple of months before whole bone-in hams and slices in packages are available.
Surryano Ham, $128 for a 2- to 3-pound piece, $350 boneless whole, $320 to order bone-in whole, edwardsvaham.com.