About
We are a small, family-owned business in Madisonville, Tennessee, and we’ve been dry-curing country ham and bacon since 1947.
History
Our business was started in 1947 by the late Albert H. Hicks, a dairy farmer here in Monroe County, Tennessee, who began curing country hams in a small cobbled-together building and selling them to folks in the surrounding community.
By the spring of 1973, Mr. Hicks was ready to step away from the business. Around that time, Allan Benton had been working as a guidance counselor at a local high school and was considering a career change. When he heard about Mr. Hicks retiring, his wheels started to turn.
Allan grew up deep in a holler in Scott County, Virginia where curing meat was simply a way of life. He learned the process from his grandparents on the very property where he was born. He talked Mr. Hicks into leasing him the building and put his first hams into cure in the fall of 1973. Five years later, in 1978, Allan built a new shop in Madisonville and it’s where we’ve been ever since.
For the first several decades, it was a real challenge. Allan worked long hours, 7 days a week just trying to keep the lights on, but he never wavered in his commitment to making the highest quality product he could.
Slowly over the years and largely through word of mouth, our products began finding their way beyond East Tennessee onto restaurant menus and into home kitchens across the country.
In 2023, Allan’s son Darrell returned to work in the family business after a career in medicine. Today, he works alongside his father with a shared commitment to preserving this craft and making sure smoke continues rolling out of our smokehouse and over the East Tennessee hills for generations to come.
What is
Country Ham
Country ham has been a staple in Southern kitchens for generations. You’ll find it sliced and fried alongside farm-fresh eggs and grits, tucked into a hot biscuit, or used to season a pot of beans or greens.
Our country hams are dry-cured by hand and aged for at least 8-12 months, with some aging up to 24 months or longer. Most of our hams are slowly smoked over local East Tennessee hickory wood, although we also offer them unsmoked.
They are different from the milder hams a lot of folks are familiar with, like deli or honey-baked hams. The curing process concentrates flavor, giving country ham its rich, saltier character.
Country ham is most often sliced and lightly pan-fried in a skillet for breakfast, but we’ve also seen it used in dishes inspired by cuisines from around the world.
Families in our part of the country, and elsewhere around the world, have been curing hams for centuries. What began as a practical way of preserving pork became an important part of the foodways of Southern Appalachia.
If you have a favorite way to enjoy country ham, we’d love to hear about it.
