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Kelly McCullen: Modern technology revolutionized how we handle our fresh foods, especially
meat. But technology has also preserved southern food traditions - like the curing of country
ham. Goldsboro's “Wayco Ham Company” offers old-fashioned, country hams using 21st century
ham-making techniques.
Tony Worrell –Country ham is something that's been around a long time. A lot of people still
eat it. A lot of people have to get their seasoning meat and so you can't get the seasoning
meat without the country ham. So, I think it will be around a while.
George Worrell – Dominant – We are predominately country ham, which is the old-fashioned, salt-cured
ham We get them in fresh within 24 hours of slaughter. We use North Carolina pork producers,
keep everything in North Carolina.
Kelly Mc: Tony and George Worrell are the father-and-son team who run Wayco Ham Company.
They've never altered the near 70-year-old family recipe for preserving Wayco Country
Hams. But the Worrells have mastered modern refrigeration to simulate the days when country
hams took three-seasons of weather to preserve.
George Worrell –Typically, they would slaughter in the late Fall; they would bury it in the
sand and it would cure over the winter. Then, in the Spring, it would dry out. Then, in
the summer, it would age. At the end of the process, it was packed full of flavor.
Kelly Mc: Wayco Ham processes nearly 25-thousand pounds of ham every week through an 80-day
process.
Billy Wilkins – It starts with salting and then after they lay in salt for 42 days, they
are washed and then they go into an equalization room. And then they sit in the equalization
room for 14 days and then they move into the aging room. That's the final process and it
lasts 25 days.
Kelly Mc: Like other cuts of meat, different parts of a cured ham have different uses.
Billy Wilkins –One ham, you get a piece of hock of it. You get some biscuit cuts out
of it. You get center slices. You get centers and ends. You'll get ends and pieces, which
people use for seasoning vegetables.
Kelly Mc: George Worrell says the best country hams offer a balance of flavor and salt to
satisfy diners in small servings.
Tony Worrell –Has a, sort of, mellow flavor; it will near about melt in your mouth, not
too salty but you can taste a little bit, a little bit of that salty.
Tony Worrell – A country ham, you're going to eat a smaller slice. You're not going to
eat a pound of country ham, you're not going to eat six ounces of country ham. Usually,
when you eat a country ham, it's an ounce or two ounces so you're not getting as much
of the calories in because you just don't eat as much.
Kelly Mc: The Wayco Ham team admits country ham has regional appeal BUT people who leave
the South have their phone number and place orders from across America.
Billy Wilkins – It's more of a Southern thing and it's an acquired taste. People that
get transplanted out of the South. We send them to New York. We send them to Washington
state. We send them to Alaska.
George Worrell – We have a very loyal customer base. They love the flavor of our hams. I'd
never change the timing or cure mix or anything – how we process them.
Kelly Mc: And because country ham is designed not to spoil, it travels well. That allows
customers to rest easy knowing country ham is always a meal option no matter where they
live.
George Worrell –I think there are people all over the country that like country ham.
We ship them to California, the Northwest, the Northeast, all over the place. I think
if you grew up eating country ham, you're always going to want some country ham. It's
a very unique flavor.
Kelly Mc: To some country ham is a culinary indulgence. Others will assure you it's a
breakfast staple while many cooks will argue that vegetables won't taste the same without
being seasoned with the salt-cured pork. So, while technically, the refrigerator made meat
curing as necessary as a horse-and-buggy, country ham has held firm to its grip in the
Southern breakfast and dinner plate.