|
|
Photo from Smithfield Farms Country Hams, Smithfield, Virginia.
Red eye gravy is well known in the South, but little known in the rest of the United States. The gravy is also called bird-eye gravy, poor man's gravy, red ham gravy, and muddy gravy. These hams are very salty and the gravy, made from drippings and black coffee, packs a punch. It is continually debated as to whether the best red eye gravy is made with water or black coffee. Country Hams The pig dates back 40 million years to fossils which indicate that wild pig-like animals roamed forest and swamps in Europe and Asia. By 4900 B.C. pigs were domesticated in China, and were being raised in Europe by 1500 B.C. The curing of pork dates back hundreds of years. Exactly when the first pork was cured and who cured it no one really knows. History traces the first attempts to the ancient Gauls who are purported to have salted, smoked and dried pork. 1539 - Hernando de Soto (1469-1542), a Spanish explorer and wealthy captain, introduced hogs to North America when he brought a small herb of 13 pigs to Florida. In the spring of 1540, DeSoto's forces left Florida with their herd of hogs headed into Georgia. Upon his death, his estate auctioned off 700 hogs, all the descendants from the original, not including the ones his troops had consumed. 1608 - Hams have been produced in America
since the settling of Jamestown in the early 1600s. Pigs were not native to
the Jamestown area, but were brought to the colonies of Virginia from and
England and Bermuda to raise for food and the sport of wild boar hunting.
The climate of Virginia was so perfect for raising pigs, that they
multiplied and became so plentiful that they became a nuisance to the
settlers. The settlers rounded the pigs up and transported them to an island
in the James River. This island became known as "Hog Island." These wild
pigs were the principal food for new settlers, as well as the Indians,
because they were available all the year and more easily caught than wild
game and fish. Since the Native Indians had been curing venison by smoking
long before the settlers arrived in Jamestown, they taught them to cure meat
with salt or "magic white sand." Their methods of salting, smoking and aging
venison were adapted by the white man to preserving the meat of the
plentiful razorback hog. 1902 - Smithfield, Virginia's most famous
resident is a ham. The Isle of Wight Museum located in Smithfield, Virginia
is home to the "World's Oldest Smithfield Ham." Originally cured in 1902,
this ham somehow escaped shipping and turned up several years later. Since
this ham has never been under refrigeration, P.D. Gwaltney, dealers in
groceries, dry goods, and general merchandising, decided to keep it and see
how long it would last. This pet ham became Gwaltney's mascot and was
featured in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" as the worlds oldest ham in
the 1900s and again in 2003. Gwaltney even insured it for $1,000 by Lloyds
of London. According to the account on the Smithfield Collection
website:
Mr. Gwaltney had a brass collar placed around the hock that read, 'Mr.
Gwaltney's Pet Ham,' and in 1934 he took the 'Pet Ham' to Washington with
him to the American Bankers Association Convention. Quite a stir was created
when he asked the desk clerk at the hotel to put his suitcase in the hotel
vault. The desk clerk inquired as to what was in the suitcase, and Mr.
Gwaltney explained that it was his 'Pet Ham' which was insured for five
thousand dollars. The next day a Washington paper carried the story about
Mr. Gwaltney and his 'Pet Ham.'" 1926 - The Virginia General Assembly passed
a law that said only peanut-fed hogs, cured and processed in the town of
Smithfield, could be called Smithfield hams. It was the practice to let pigs
roam the peanut fields, foraging for peanuts missed during harvesting. Later
the peanut feed stipulation was dropped and the hogs are fed a variety of
grains. Today, there are only four companies that can legally sell
their products as Smithfield hams. All others are called country hams.
Red Eye Gravy According to legend and not necessarily facts, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), 7th President of the United States, who was an American General at the time, called his cook over to tell him what to prepare. The cook had been drinking "moonshine" corn whiskey the night before and his eyes were as red as fire. General Jackson told the cook to bring him some country ham with gravy as red as his eyes. Some men nearby heard the general and from then on, ham gravy became "Red Eye Gravy." SOURCES: 7000 Years of Pork Domestication, Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service, Missouri Farm Facts. Ham It Up In Smithfield, Virginia, Virginia Wind, http://www.virginiawind.com/virginia_travel/smithfield_ham.asp, an internet web site. Hernando de Soto, Virtualogy, A Virtual Education Project, http://www.virtualology.com/virtualmuseumofhistory/hallofexplorers/HERNANDODESOTO.COM/, an internet web site. History of Virginia Country Hams: From Jamestown to World Renown. I'll Have What They're Having - Legendary Local Cuisine, by Linda Stradley, ThrrFroks, Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, Connecticut. Smithfield Ham Timeline. |
Virginia
hams or Smithfield hams are universally recognized to be the country's
finest, and serving these hams with red eye gravy is a regional specialty.