Remember when all the grocery store meat departments sold half pig heads under cellophane?

[NNN0LHI]

Snout and all. They were always in every meat department. Never ate one. Never knew anyone who did. And never thought about it much back then either. But I don't see them any more.

Anyone else remember that?

Don

[hlthe2b]

1. Not really, but on a more mundane issue- when did "fresh" (smoked but uncooked) hams become so rare?

Honestly, I've increasingly cooked less and less over the years--limited to pretty simple foods, as I've never been a cooking "enthusiast.". I haven't even thought about cooking a ham in probably 15 years, though I do purchase small amounts of cooked ham occasionally for dishes requiring it. But, I remember my Mom always buying smoked, but uncooked hams that she'd glaze and cook for hours that would end up with "fall off the bone" tender meat that is simply not captured by heating up the pre-cooked variety. Yet, I don't seem to be seeing these in the grocery store anymore. They all seem to be completely pre-cooked.

Can someone tell me what I'm missing? Are smoked/uncooked hams not available anymore? I know that totally fresh/unsmoked hams are quite a different matter, that when cooked don't really taste like what we've come to expect from ham, but more like "pulled pork". So, I don't think I'm confusing "fresh" uncooked hams....

Maybe I should stick with chicken, fish and beef....LOL

[eridani]

6. I get them from my local grass-fed beef co-op

They have connections with people who do pigs and chickens also.

[GoCubsGo]

8. You must not live inthe South.

Fresh ham is available in many grocery stores here. You're more likely to find them in the "Southern" chains, like Food Lion, Winn Dixie (which was just bought up by Food Lion), and of course, Piggly Wiggly.

[hlthe2b]

9. No... I used to. So maybe that's why it was a shock to see nothing but pre-cooked hams...

Heavens. My Mom would cook one at least four or five times a year.

I thought maybe it was in response to consumers failing to cook pork thoroughly or something.

Or maybe they changed the "lingo" or something and I just missed the memo....
I am right, after all that smoked (= cured hams, but not cooked) are the kind our Mothers/Grandmothers always used to cook? And that fresh uncured/uncooked hams would be more like a pork roast? At any rate, all I've seen in four grocery stores is fully cooked hams.

[GoCubsGo]

10. My guess...

I suspect that a lot of people don't want to be bothered cooking the ham. I noticed that there tend not to be many roasts in the butcher cases, in general. It's all ground, ribs, steaks, or whatever is the latest cut that's trendy on the Food Network. I had never heard of "flat iron" or "hangar" steaks before 2008. We see lots of large cuts of pork here, as this is barbecue country. But, I suspect that most people want cuts that cook quickly, otherwise. Cooking a fresh ham or a beef roast takes more time than a lot of people want to spend. Of course, if Paula Deen or Bobby Flay, or one of these other FN bigwigs ever cooks a fresh ham, they'll be all over the place--and the price will double.

[HopeHoops]

2. Unfortunately, yes.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Actually, no. :^)

Probably cheap meat for those with little money. Probably used to make head cheeze or barbacoa. I read somewhere that "barbacoa" in some parts of the SW USA refers almost exclusively to roasted pig's head, but Wikipedia disagrees.

I do remember seeing beef tongues. Gross.

[shanti]

4. beef tongue, ha!

i remember when i was a young housewife seeing tongue in the market. one time i bought one to cook just for the hell of it, never having eaten it before. i didn't like the texture and ended up throwing it out. it takes quite a long time to cook, as it's a muscle that gets a LOT of work!

[elleng]

5. No, not in MY back yard!

[GoCubsGo]

7. One of the chains here sells whole heads.

I see them at Reid's, which I think is a subsidiary of Food Lion. One can get just about every part of the hog there, as well as chicken feet.

[NNN0LHI]

11. All the ones that used to sell them around here did their own butchering when they sold them

I think they have stopped doing that? I think all their meat comes in pre-cut now.

Wonder if it is the few that still do their own butchering that still sell them?

Don

[GoCubsGo]

12. Most of the chains in my town do at least some of the butchering.

The only one that may not is Kroger. At least, they are the only one that doesn't have bunch of big windows behind the cases that look into where the butchers work. In most of the stores here, one can watch them work. I don't know if they get whole animals, but I have seen half and quartered carcasses. I'm guessing they get a lot of the meat semi-butchered. They just cut it down into smaller portions. But, there is an awful lot of pre-cut meat from Smithfield, Hormel, Tyson, etc., too. I avoid those. I also don't buy most of the meat from Kroger, either. Anything labeled "Moist and Tender" has been injected with a nasty salty chemical solution. Yuk!

[no_hypocrisy]

13. Lamb's head

http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/perla-2012-4/

[grasswire]

14. I have never seen that.

Never seen a half pig head in the store.

[freshwest]

15. Yes, but I wanted to forget that, LOL!

[csziggy]

16. The last time I sent my husband to buy hog jowls, he came home with

A full, smoked hog JAW! Seriously, teeth and all. It was from the little country store down the road that has been in business owned by the same family for nearly 100 years and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Now there's the place to get a real country ham! They are famous for their smoked sausage, though.


http://www.bradleyscountrystore.com/

[eShirl]

17. no

we do have live lobster tanks in all the local grocery stores.

except for Walmart; they used to, but they took theirs out when they remodeled a while back. more room now for various cookies, pastries, anything with sugar, flour and lard really...

[Neoma]

18. I think my local Chinese restaurant serves that.

[TheCruces]

19. I live in NM...it's normal.