Country Ham Hocks | 2.5 lb / 4-10 oz Split Hocks | Artisan Smoked, Gluten-Free | Perfect for Breakfast, Stews, BBQ, & Gourmet Cooking

From the Brand Real Salt Cured Country Ham

Our naturally aged Country Hams are cured with the same methods used for generations on the family farms of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ray and Geneva Goad opened their first restaurant ten years after Ray served in the Navy in WWII, with Country Ham and Granny Goad's Biscuits topping the menu. Ray Goad became the innovator of the fast food breakfast, being the first to serve Ham and Sausage Biscuits in a fast food restaurant.

Country Ham harks back to the way food was preserved on the family farms of Appalachia before electricity and refrigeration. The family tradition of butchering hogs in the late fall allowed for them to be preserved during the cold winter months with a natural curing process. Today, those traditions are being kept alive in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where a few facilities owned and operated by the descendants of those early American pioneers are still making Country Hams.

Ray Jr. and Susan, the children of Geneva and Ray Goad, are perpetuating the legacy of Ray's Restaurants and the rich traditions of Country Ham for their children and grandchildren. They assure that Ray's Country Ham is cured in the same style featured for almost 50 years at the Ray's Starlight Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC, and dozens of Ray's Kingburgers and Sweet Sue Restaurants across five Mid-Atlantic States.

Our package of Country Ham Hocks consists of four (4) 10 oz. split hock ends of a Ray's whole bone-in Country Ham naturally dry-cured with salt, pepper, sugar, brown sugar, nitrites, and nitrates, without smoking. The hocks are then split into 10 oz portions, vacuum-packed, and are suitable for shipping and storage for an extended period without refrigeration.

Susan and Ray Jr., the children of Geneva and Ray Goad, are perpetuating the legacy of Ray's Country Ham featured for almost 50 years at the Ray's Starlight Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC and, at dozens of Ray's Kingburgers and Sweet Sue's Restaurants across five of the Mid-Atlantic States.

Ray's Country Ham harks back to how food was preserved for generations on the family farms of the Blue Ridge Mountains before electricity. Those thrifty pioneer homemakers also used the hock ends of the Country Ham for seasoning and enrichment with the ample cure meat on each hock some of America's favorite recipe.

We follow the traditional methods for curing hams that our family has used for generations. As we gently age our hams with ambient temperatures matching the annual seasons, the once humble ham becomes what can only be called a Country Ham, with the addictive taste, aroma, and texture like no other, all of which is found at its best in each of these split Ham Hocks.

There is no better way to prepare traditional Southern food than using authentic ham hocks from a County Ham cured in Ray's Original Style in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Bon Appétit Magazine says it best: "To Southerners and pork devotees, Country Ham is legendary: an exquisite dry-cured artisanal meat rivaling prosciutto in its rosy-hued perfection."

The proverb "For want is nexte to waste, and shame doeth synne ensue" originated from a book called "The Paradise of Dainty Devices" by Richard Edwardes in 1576. Edwardes, a renowned lyricist, and playwright, was rumored to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII.

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