Stuffed ham is a popular Southern Maryland dish, prepared by stuffing deep pockets of corned ham with a mix of chopped onions, kale, cabbage, and several seasonings and spices, and then boiling the vegetable stuffed ham in water. This Southern Maryland dish is commonly served in chilled form; however, there are quite a few variations of the dish, which suggest serving the dish warm. One of the recipe variations suggests preparing the dish in the form of sandwich, where ham slices are stuffed with some sort of filling. Further, a few recipe variants suggests using ham as the stuffing ingredient; ham stuffed eggplant and ham stuffed zucchini are a couple of popular examples.
The corned ham that is used popularly in Southern Maryland cuisine is prepared by coating ham with salt all around and then refrigerating it for eleven days, making sure to rub it with salt every other day. After eleven days, the ham is washed properly with cold water to get rid of all the salt, and then used to prepare stuffed ham dishes.
Commonly Used Ingredients and Preparation Overview of Stuffed Ham
The Southern Maryland stuffed ham recipe suggests the use of ham, cabbage, onions, red pepper, scallions, mustard seeds, kale, Tabasco sauce, celery seed, salt, and red pepper as the ingredients. Corned bone-in ham is used to attain genuine Southern Maryland flavor.
The preparation process suggests combining chopped onions with all the green vegetables and seasonings, and stuffing the mix into pockets of ham. The stuffed ham is then placed in cheesecloth, and tied tightly after pouring over any remaining stuffing mix over ham. Thereafter, the ham is placed in a large sized pot filled with water and boiled. Once done, it is allowed to cool down, and then refrigerated and served cold.
The ham used in preparation of the dish can be pre-cooked before filling it with stuffing mix. In this case, the boiling time would be reduced by around half an hour.
Stuffed Ham Recipe Variations
A few popular variations of stuffed ham have been discussed below: