四个世纪以来，幸运的南方人一直塞满乡村火腿，在节日餐中送来，切成薄片并塞入饼干中，或在锅中炸成锅，然后搭配咖啡混合红眼肉汁。近年来，它已成为高端厨师的恋物癖物品，他们将其变成了稀薄的美味佳肴。然而，美国标志性美食的供应现在正在枯竭，本月的危机明确了，当猪肉爱好者得知史密斯菲尔德·汉姆（Smithfield Ham和内战 - 不再了。
Genuine country ham is to cold-cut ham as real Parmigiano-Reggiano is to Kraft Singles: To make the fat-streaked country hams, whole legs are dry-cured, gently smoked, and left to age in the open air. The resulting meat is nutty, sweet, smoky, and deeply complex; there’s a reason it’s been called “hillbilly prosciutto。透明There may be nothing better than the ham tucked inside a freshly baked biscuit. Chefs covet country hams the same way bourbon lovers covet Pappy Van Winkle, carving razor-thin slices and treating it with the same care they’d give to $100-a-pound jamón Ibérico from Spain. In one插曲ofMind of a Chef, chef and southern-food evangelist Sean Brock is so enamored with a long-cut country ham, he nearly fondles it. “I have this weird thing where everything is my ‘favorite,’” he admits, arm resting on the exposed shank, “but this I’ve used as a pillow before.”
Country hams can be made by anyone with enough salt, time, and pigs on hand, but there is perhaps no place more closely associated with the dry-curing, traditional version than the town of Smithfield, Virginia. It is the “ham capital of the world,” and by Virginia法令, a真正的史密斯菲尔德火腿必须“老化至少六个月……在史密斯菲尔德镇的公司范围内。”而且这将变得更加困难，因为史密斯菲尔德食品（世界上最大的猪肉生产国和中国肉类加工企业集团WH组）现在已经有了关闭最后一个能够生产真实的史密斯菲尔德火腿的烟屋。
正式，该公司主张it “has absolutely no intention of ceasing production of Genuine Smithfield Ham in the town of Smithfield, Virginia.” Instead, it calls this an “opportunity to assess alternatives for the production of our Genuine Smithfield Ham,” which seems impossible unless a new smokehouse is opened. CEO Ken Sullivan承诺that “while we have closed the original smokehouse that produced these hams due to its age, we have plenty of these hams in inventory.” The future, after that, sounds bleak: A spokesperson tells Grub that the company goes through about 100,000 pounds of Smithfield hams a year — about 6,000 of its 13- to 16-pound hams — and calls the business “essentially a rounding error … in the context of our 3 billion–pound U.S. packaged meats business.”
Ham lovers are nevertheless aghast. Sam Edwards III, of the celebratedEdwards Virginia Smokehouselocated just 20 miles from Smithfield, says his team was “sad to hear the news,” since it’s yet another sign of the industry’s declining capacity. “This leaves the U.S. with maybe 20 dry-cured producers now,” he says. “In Spain,” he adds, “you can’t move a hand without hitting a smokehouse.”
Linton Hopkins — the James Beard Award–winning chef and a founder of the乡村火腿切片机团契- 说当他听到这个消息时，他冲出去，买了两个史密斯菲尔德，“为了后代”。（他确定他们会存储几年。）“我在听到史密斯菲尔德新闻后发短信给艾伦·本顿，”他指的是美国的最有名curer of hams, “and we both agreed that names are worth preserving if they elevate something we honor and revere.” He adds that his local Publix carries Smithfields; never more than one or two, but it still makes him sad thinking they could vanish.
The problem, of course, is that country hams are a difficult-to-produce, niche product that are equally hard to sell at great profit. In fact, low margins are a huge problem, says Steve Coomes, author ofCountry Ham: A Southern Tradition of Hogs, Salt, and Smoke,但也只是几个行业卡伦牌之一tly faces. “The country-ham world is contracting,” Coomes warns, “and we’re in a position to lose its identity.” Domestic production is 2.5 million cured hams per year, compared to 4 million cured hams imported from Europe, and since 2016, fires被摧毁了Sam Edwards的Smokehouse（在线订单在9月重新开放）和哈珀的乡村火腿。他们占行业销售的10％以上，分别为每年约50,000和230,000火腿。一个较小的北卡罗来纳州生产商，Mom‘n Pop’s Country Ham，最近被龙卷风带走了。爱德华兹说：“美国使乡村火腿的能力急剧下降。”“我们开枪射击 - 假日餐桌的骄傲成为杂货店的损失负责人。”
Another problem is that many producers are aging out of the business, and a new generation has not yet stepped in to take over. For example, Benton, whose ham is a fixture on MomofukuSsäm Bar’s $38Charcuterie董事会, is 70 years old. Coomes believes that, at a minimum, the economics of the industry need to be rethought. Smithfield Foods sells its back stock of Genuine Smithfield Ham$ 160each. A less aged version goesfor $150, and something called an “Uncooked Ham in a Cloth Sack”for $130。Coomes says that whole hams from artisan producers will cost half of that, $60 to $80: “Allan Benton is the poster child for this,” he explains. “He’ll sell an 18-month-old ham toZingerman的in Michigan that Zingerman’s then resells for $200. These producers have never been comfortable raising prices because it will offend their loyal customer bases.”
然而，库姆斯在各个方面都很乐观：“如果老后卫没有，请相信我，有人会加紧努力并满足需求。”他指出了Facebook治疗团体和DIY HAMMAKERS。他说，这使他想起了80年代的自制社区craft-beer revolution：“每年可能只做几百个火腿的微处理器，”他推测，“但是，如果数字足够高，思维定势将会改变，人们将扩大其运作。”
One hopes so because people need to put某物饼干,坦白说,不是same with even the best Italian prosciutto.