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.

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.

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?

We received this ham excited about cooking it. Opened to cook & it smelled like throw up! Never in my life would I imagine this smelling so bad! Cooked 1 just to see & took 1 bite & spit it out! The house smells horrible!!

Without out a doubt, this is some of the best country ham I have ever tried...don't over cook...Having said that, I would have really liked a heads up on the nitrates and the nitrites that Ray's uses to cure there hams...I would have looked else where to get an "all natural country ham"...Hey Ray's Ham's...Please come out with all natural c/ham. None of that well you know...!!..Probably wouldn't be able to keep it on the shelf...!!! I would buy it for sure...!!!

***AMENDED***I am changing my review! Apparently I was not cooking this ham the way it was meant to be cooked. The label said you could fry it, cook in oven or microwave it. I had microwaved it and it was not good that way at all. I decided to fry it along with some fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast so as not to waste the ham. It was AWESOME!! Now I know how it was meant to be cooked!! I usually cook rather than microwave but had been sick and didn’t feel up to cooking. Microwaving this ham is a travesty! It’s definitely made to be pan fried!.........(Old review is no longer valid but am leaving it, so you can see how much my mind has changed) I decided to splurge and get Rays Ciuntry Ham for myself for Christmas, it was pricey but the reviews were positive so I splurged. It arrived within 2 days. I put 2 packs in the freezer and opened one since it was my day off and I wanted to try it. WOW!! SALTY!!! It tasted smoked and very very very salty with a bit of a bitter aftertaste! It is sliced very very thin but is SO tough that you can’t bite through it! It just stretches and eventually will tear. I tried cutting with a sharp knife and got the same result- stretches and eventually just tears. I don’t like it and am very disappointed. Especially for $30.00 for 3 - 12 ounce packages! I will figure out a way to use it mixed in with other things like pinto beans or potatoes or something but now I won’t be having this ham for my Christmas Dinner!