In the immortal words of John Cusack's character in Grosse Pointe Blank, "You can never go home again. But I guess you can shop there." My little Virginia hometown looked and felt surreally different when I visited last weekend. A little more cosmopolitan than it used to be, a little more traffic. Some things were the same, though, among them the weekly farmers market downtown. Same beautiful bounty of produce, same friendly vendors willing and eager to offer a taste of their wares, same funny little place selling Filipino food. Unable to resist, and reveling in the fact that I was clever enough to bring a cooler in the car, we bought some gorgeous brioche and three different kinds of local goat cheese, including a brie-style cheese and one studded with dried cranberries, pecans, and candied ginger.
But, above all, there were the ham biscuits. Oh, ham biscuits! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
First of all, they're saltier than hell. Those who don't like salt should a) probably not be reading my blog and b) go for the chicken and waffles or something. Country ham, which I believe is called Virginia ham in places that are not Virginia, is salt cured, which gives it this lovely chewy texture and dark, almost smoky salt flavor. The best version of a ham biscuit involves a yeast-risen biscuit, not too fluffy or crumbly, slathered with mayonnaise and sandwiching thick slices of country ham and ripe, red tomato. Every bite yields a perfect combination of juicy, tart-sweet tomato, tangy mayo, buttery biscuit, and holy-GOD-salty ham.

Heaven. In my mouth. And wow, I'm suddenly dying for a glass of water.

Posted by Louisa Edwards at 10:21 AM  

Labels: farmers market, food, travel, Virginia