Ray’s Country Ham (2.25 lb) – 3 × 12 oz | Authentic Blue Ridge Mountain Dry-Cured | Center & End Cuts | Robust Southern Flavor for Biscuits & More

Don't buy this product if you don't like country ham or don't want to try one. Country ham is an old-fashioned salt-cured ham; that makes the meat salty and drier, therefore much less tender than your typical grocery store ham that is pumped full of water and cured in a different way. You can use the suggestions in these reviews to reduce the salt (like soaking it in water before using) if that's a problem for you. FYI: Ray's the least salty brand of authentic country ham that we've tried. You have to take the lack of water content into account in looking at the price; removing most of the moisture means that you aren't paying for water, as you could be if you bought a regular ham. The concentration of flavor in this kind of ham is amazing.True country ham is not that easy to find on the West Coast. Being able to get this from Amazon is wonderful. Getting it in packets of slices is even better, because It's hard to use up an entire country ham while it's at its peak.Most of the time, we cook up one slice at a time and use it differently than many people reviewing the product. We mince or dice about an ounce of that slice at a time over about a week and use it in many different dishes: almost any vegetable dish, rice (fried or steamed), stir fry dishes, poultry stuffing. A little bit adds a huge amount of flavor. Often, we use the ham instead of salt in a recipe - the whole dish ends up with just the right amount of saltiness, whereas using both the salt called for an in the recipe and this ham might be too much.

Exactly what I was hoping for, taste was great and reminded me of annual vacations to the Carolinas. Made with stone ground grits from the same area. Breakfast perfect. The quality of the ham was perfect, you will not go wrong with Rays.

I ordered this country ham the other day and now have had a chance to try it the last two mornings or so. Country Ham for me has been a hit or miss type of breakfast from way back. I've been told I was a picky eater more than once. With that in mind, this is my take on the Ray's Country Ham product. I ordered it overnight delivery in the last part of November. It wouldn't have mattered even with standard shipping. It is salt cured ham so even if I ordered it in a Summer month it would have been the same. It was shipped in a white Ray's carton inside a brown Amazon carton. Inside the box was 3 individual vacuum sealed clear heavy-duty plastic pouches. Each one was 12 ounces of Prime boneless (what looked like) center cut ham steaks. There where 3 thick cut slices in each pouch; i.e. 9 total slices in 3 plastic sealed pouches, hence the 2-1/4 lbs. The first morning we made country ham and biscuit sandwiches by frying the ham in skillet with water for salt reduction. At it turned out our home made biscuits detracted from the ham! The next morning we just made country ham and eggs and a side of toast. Cooked in skillet (No water) just 45 seconds on each side, maybe a minute each side. This turned out to be 'so far' the best. The saltiness was not overkill cooked straight out of the pouch. So if your on the fence not wanting to fork over for the whole ham, then this could be the ticket for you. I'd say Mr. Ray has his curing and packaging process down to a science. I for one won't be hesitant to reorder this ham since I can't directly buy it locally. Almost forgot this, on each pouch there was a 'best by' date label that was 8 months away. Being a cured ham, I'm sure it would be good far longer. But I don't expect it to be laying around here even before the best by date. It's like beef jerky as we have beef jerky ninja's and don't know how they get in, or when they come or go?

I wondered why reviews talked about how thin the slices were. When I opened the package, I saw why. Each pak had 3 very thin slices instead of one thicker slice. I loved the taste. Also, was apprehensive when I smelled the slices, but I put a small amount in the microwave, and tasted it. It was great. Chopped up a pak, and added to the beans I was cooking. Wonderful, salty ham.

We truly believe meat is spoiled. One pkg opened stunk, was like eating salt. Afraid to open other two pkgs. this compares NOTHING to Missouri’s packaged hams from BURGER’s. We love country ham but this was awful.

growing up in North Carolina we always cured our own country ham. No, this is not as good, but it is among the best bought country ham. came to Houston for Thanksgiving and forgot the ham. seems no store in houston has ever heard of it. Amazon came to the rescue. by the way, the ham is from mt airy, nc, aka Mayberry.if you crave good country ham, you won't go wrong with this. it says a lot about Daves qc that every piece was a perfect center cut properly trimmed.

The ham arrived. For breakfast I sliced one piece into 4 pieces and removed some of the fat on edges. After a couple hours in warm water it removes at least 60-75% of the salt which I don't like or need. The secret is cooking in a frying pan with an inch or so of water almost boiling for at least 30 minutes until the water is almost out. Then you rinse it quickly, return to pan with no water and add a touch of olive oil. Then resume to fry and brown lightly. This is the key. I am from NC and my family did it this way. It was so delicious it almost brought a tear to my eye to go with my homeaded buttermilk WHITE LILY buscuits I made. If you don't cook it this way, you shouldn't complain about saltiness and/or tougness. Country ham is always a bit tough, its part of the experience of eating it! T.McDonald

Make sure that you soak these slices of ham in cold water for at least an hour, draining it thoroughly and re-soaking it. That will take out some of the salt. Then you can cook it . . . just warm it up. Don't fry it. It's also plenty tough. All-in-all it's just okay.