Our company's corporate offices are located in Tennessee, and when we went down there last summer, the photo team squeezed in a trip to say hi to Allan Benton and his legendary smokehouse. We walked away with stacks of bacon, and when those eventually dwindled away we had to place another order. On the Benton's site, they also sell a whole hickory smoked country ham for only $70. Naturally, HAM PARTY.
Note: everything Benton's touches smells like liquid gold (if gold to you is really really smoky porky ham).
Everyone contributed to the insane smorgasbord, so here's what I made:
Green eggs & Benton's ham
This one started as a joke, but turned into a sickass, bright-green concoction with peas and parsley that would've slayed Sam-I-Am.
Potato & Benton's ham duck-broth soup with Benton's ham & Parmesan palmiers
I won't take credit for the soup, but the duck broth part is all me. Palmiers are French, usually sweet pastries also known as "elephant ears". These are the easiest things to make if you know some children's basics origami. Like all Asian children should.
Kimchi grilled cheese with Benton's ham on challah
Kick up my previous kimchi grilled cheese with caramelized onions mixed with grilled kimchi and diced tomatoes, squished between buttery challah bread. I'm pretty sure if you threw an egg in this, you could make a hungover New Yorker cry.
Benton's ham and melon ice cream
Ham and melon go together like hair metal and the 80's, and putting them together in ice cream is super easy. The flavor of Benton's is so powerful it doesn't take much to perfume the cream, mixed with some cantaloupe "milk" and icy melon chunks.