Gifts for the Holidays

Gifts come in many forms, often in ones that I do not expect. Racey continues her recovery from surgery now that more than a week has passed. The gift of slowing down is not always what we ask for, yet when accepted it is a treasure without equal. Thank you for all the words and thoughts of support, her healing is progressing and she takes fewer naps each day.☺︎

I wrote a few weeks ago about some unexpected freezer and processor logistics. I made a call for help and so many folks pitched in and we did not need to take anything over to a freezer storage facility in VT. Part of those logistics involved our current processor in VT telling us they could not smoke our pork products since the place they send it (they do not do in-house smoking) was all booked up. This was part of our winter’s bacon supply and some much anticipated smoked hams to add to our holiday offerings and hopefully our own Christmas table. Instead I brought home fresh whole pork bellies and some whole fresh hams. Not quite the same.

The world of USDA processors in the North East is sparse. I can count on one hand the number of processors that are within a 3 hour drive of the farm. So when I considered where to take the pork bellies and hams I had only a few choices and I knew that the fall is always a busy time of year for processors. As luck would have it, I have been continuing my quest to bring back No-Nitrate Bacon, which brought me to the folks at Eagle Bridge Smokehouse in none other than Eagle Bridge, NY. They have no website, an inactive Facebook page, but they answer the phone and will call you back, so that makes them real in my book. I had heard good things about their operation so I had been talking to them about getting on their schedule for 2023. Not an easy task as it turned out. They said they had most of 2023 all booked up with their regular customers already and had not yet opened up dates for others.

In desperation I called them to ask if they could smoke the bacons and hams for us and they agreed and suggested I come drop off the pork and we could talk about 2023 slaughter dates. I’ll write about my visit with them another time, but the short story is I was very impressed by their operation. This past week I went and picked up the No-Nitrate Smoked Ham Roast and our No-Nitrate Bacon and I’m very pleased with the results.

There are only a few of the ham roasts so I decided not to open one right away for a photo shoot and taste test. I tried staging a few photos but it was difficult to make a frozen vacuum sealed roast look good. I’ve included a photo above. To give you an example of the care that the folks at Eagle Bridge take, I asked about how to get a good ham roast and they suggested the following: when most of us picture a ham roast we picture what is called the “end ham” meaning the ham tapers at one end. The ham has only two ends, so if you cut a ham in half you get two overly large roasts. The folks at Eagle Bridge suggested cutting a few ham steaks out of the center to create an appropriate sized roast with some tasty ham steaks on the side. Great idea!

Not able to resist trying something new, I brought a ham steak home to try. Yum! These folks do a great job. You’ll notice the ham (in the picture at the top of the blog) is not your usual pink color you see in the supermarket. This is because it doesn’t have any nitrates, which add that pink color. But the delicious pork flavor and hickory smoke is perfect. Not too salty, not too sweet and not over-smoked leading to dry meat.

I have not added the no-nitrate ham steaks to the website yet, so stay tuned for those when we have them all counted out. I am very pleased to announce the return of the very popular No-Nitrate Bacon and a first for us No-Nitrate Smoked Ham Roast (while they last).

On the farm front the gift of winter is blowing her way across the Adirondacks. We had a good cover of snow for a week or so and some rain had brought back the eerie green grass. December contrasts with the dull grays and browns of the rest of the landscape. This transition in weather is always accompanied by wind on our farm. The kind of wind that rattles our windows, picks up and throws anything we’ve neglected to put away and occasionally breaks things. I’ve always of thought of the wind as King Winter’s welcoming entourage, loudly announcing his imminent arrival. This week we hear them loud and clear.