Ham

Those of us who are not vegetarians or Muslim or Jewish know that the pig is a miraculous animal. Pigs are smart. They're fairly clean animals. They can be trained to find truffles, and unlike dogs, pigs are intelligent enough to take their own truffle cut. But mostly, pigs are delicious.

Long have I admired their flavor. This summer, we discovered Heather, Brad, and their Piggery. Suddenly, pork was even more delicious.

All my life, I have loved pork and bacon, but I have never liked ham. Christmas (and my birthday) is generally spent with me eating sides and having extra room for dessert. Sure, I liked the French jambon and the Italian prosciutto, but American ham? As the teenaged me would have said "Gag me with a spoon!"

Fortunately, there are times in our life when trust in good producers combined with a healthy sense of adventure leads to revelations. Today was one of those times. The folks at The Piggery were selling deli ham for the first time. And we had been planning to pick up some prosciutto at Wegmans for a dish later this week (involving eggs and roasted red pepper and tomato soup). Why not try the ham at The Piggery? We decided to get 4 oz and try it out. While Brad and Heather were weighing and tallying our pork, they gave us a little ham sample.

Our only regret is that we did not buy more ham. I guess ham sandwiches will finally be in my lunch box.