Tasso ham

Poached eggs with tasso, griddled tomato and south Louisiana hollandaise

Tasso ham is a specialty of south Louisiana cuisine. It is a spicy, peppery version of smoked pork made from the shoulder butt. In this case "ham" is a misnomer since tasso is not made from the hind leg of a pig. This cut is typically fatty, and because the muscle is constantly used by the animal, has a great deal of flavor. The butt, which will weigh 7 to 8 pounds, is sliced across the grain into pieces about 3 in (7.5 cm) thick. These are dredged in a salt cure, which usually includes nitrites and sugar. The meat is left to cure briefly, only three or four hours, then rinsed, rubbed with a spice mixture containing cayenne pepper and garlic, and hot-smoked until cooked through. Though tasso may be eaten on its own, it is more often used as part of a flavor base for stews or braised vegetables. It is used in dishes ranging from pasta to crab cakes to soup and gravy. Appropriate to its roots, tasso is most often found in recipes of southern or Creole origin, such as jambalaya.

References

Ruhlman, Michael and Brian Polcyn. Charcuterie. New York, NY: Norton, 2005. ISBN 0-393-05829-8

Cajun cuisine

Ingredients	Andouille Crawfish Filé Holy trinity Louisiana Hot Sauce Rice Roux Steen's syrup Tasso ham Tabasco sauce Tony Chachere's Seasoning Trappey's Hot Sauce

Methods	Baking Blackening Brochette Deep frying Fricassée Grilling Seafood boil Smoked meat Smothering

Dishes	Boudin Chaudin Couche Couche Cracklins Crawfish pie Dirty rice Cochon de Lait Étouffée Gumbo Gumbo des Herbes Hog's Head Cheese Jambalaya Maque choux Pecan praline Pistolette Red beans and rice Rice and gravy Sauce Piquante Shrimp Creole Stuffed Mirliton Turducken

Cajun or Cajun-influenced chefs	John Besh John Folse Emeril Lagasse Kay Prudhomme Paul Prudhomme Justin Wilson

Tasso ham

See also

References