I have been wanting to share this with you for some time and with Easter coming up fast I just thought it would make for interesting conversation.
What is a traditional Easter Dinner for your family?
I would really love to hear about your Easter traditions. Please share in the comments section below.
Here in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country we serve a Ham. My Mothers parents were both Pennsylvania Dutch. Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken in their home. I do not speak or understand it but it is similar to German, with a twist.
Ok, on to the food. The Pa. Dutch eat a lot of meat and starch. I remember my GrandMother making holiday dinners and there were always many starches. Potato Filling ( some places it's called dressing) mashed potatoes, noodles with browned butter, candied sweet potatoes and bread. Then there were the sweets & sours. Pickled beets, pickled cucumbers, a few different types and chow chow. Then there were the vegetables. . .then desserts. It's amazing that the tables didn't collapse under the weight of all this food. There were a few tables because there were many of us at holiday dinner.
It was a fun time for us kids. There were many cousins and we all spent the day having fun. Mom had 8 brothers and sisters and each family had at least 2-4 children. Cousins galore!
At Easter I remember we always had Ham. Now, because ham is so popular in these parts there are many different brands available in the grocery stores in this area. I have tried them all and have a problem with each one for one reason or another. Many are just too salty and lot's of them are just bland with no smoky flavor. A ham is a smoked leg of pig so it should taste smoky. Many companies do not smoke their meats anymore they are injected with smoky flavor, Yuck.
Well I have found the most Wonderful German Butcher and I want to introduce you to them. He and his wife stand market at a Farmers Market in this area and he smokes his own Hams and they are Amazing! In fact he Double Smokes them. They are not those fancy spiral cut hams. You have to do the carving yourself but the bone makes Awesome bean soup later in the week. I'll post my Ham & Bean Soup recipe later next week. They are not salty but smoky and tender and almost sweet. If you are in the market for something different this Easter he will ship hams. I should probably say THEY will ship hams. His wife Melissa is the shop owner and the Mister smokes the hams himself.
Here is a picture of Melissa and her son at the market stand proudly showing off one of their hams. Her husband is in the background.
Their phone number is 610-929-2697 ask for Melissa.
They also have many other German Specialities. Very nice smoked sausages and a wonderful hot & spicy sausage like the kind used in New Orleans.
Can you tell I am a fan of these folks. They run a small family business and turn out excellent products and they are great people. I love to support folks like this and if you are in the mood for fine ham give them a call.~ ~Ahrisha~ ~
