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Stuffed with pride
Holiday party celebrates regional specialty, raises funds for breast cancer research
Friday, Nov. 27, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN
Stephen Caldwell of California mixes the vegetables and spices for his ham stuffing with Holly Frazier of Leonardtown, at left, at a ham stuffing party held by Feicht Contracting Monday evening at the Elks lodge in California. The event raised money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.
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Stephen Caldwell of California is a new convert.
Last year was the first time Caldwell had baked his stuffed ham instead of the more traditional boiling method. He was hooked.
"I'm convinced. It came out unbelievable," Caldwell said of baking the iconic Southern Maryland regional specialty — a corned ham that is stuffed with a combination of finely chopped vegetables and spices and then boiled (or baked) for hours.
His newfound preference for baking seemed a little hard for Caldwell to admit. "I came from a long line of boilers," Caldwell explained.
Southern Maryland stuffed ham (and debate on how to prepare it) was the star of the party thrown by Feicht Contracting at the Elks lodge in California on Monday evening.
Rory Feicht of California, owner of the company, began the tradition about a dozen years ago of holding a stuffed ham-making party for the employees of his construction business around the holidays. They'd get together, stuff their hams and each employee would leave with a ham ready for the oven (or the boiling pot.) Making stuffed ham, often together as a family or with a group of friends, is a regional tradition for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Over the years, Feicht's ham party tradition grew. He began inviting clients of the business. This year, he added a charitable component to the holiday tradition. In addition to organizing the party for Feicht Contracting's 13 employees and their families, Feicht used the event to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, a breast cancer education and research organization. With approximately 100 participants observing or participating or advising ("cut it this way," "add more pepper" "you have too much kale") about the preparation of 38 hams, the event raised between $1,200 and $1,500, Feicht estimated Tuesday morning.
The thing about stuffed ham, however, is that personal preferences rule. There are recipes, sure. But the whole idea is that people should create it their own way — reflective perhaps of a region that celebrates independence and individuality.
"You're going to hear 50 million ways of how it should be made," said Tammy Feicht, Rory's wife.
Baked versus boiled isn't the only point of contention.
More kale or more cabbage for the stuffing? Residents at the northern end of the county are known for adding more kale. Some in the southern end eschew kale altogether and just use cabbage.
Do you go to cayenne pepper or rely on black pepper for the stuffing's heat?
Do you add celery at all?
When you make stuffed ham sandwiches, do you use mustard or mayonnaise? As far as sandwich bread, however, no one was arguing for anything but white bread. "It's the holidays. Eat some white bread," said Ann Cheseldine of Great Mills, as she advised some of the cooks from the sidelines.
"It's so much fun," said Claire Andrews of California as she waited to start putting a ham together. "I look forward to this time of year."
Feicht's employees had prepared all the traditional ingredients for stuffed ham, which included chopping 110 heads of cabbage, 15 bushels of kale and 200 pounds of onions (all purchased at the farmers market in Charlotte Hall) into small pieces. At the party, large bins of the vegetables were set out on long tables arranged in a large rectangle. In the center, a table with large bowls of the traditionally used spices — black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, mustard seed, celery seed, salt. Sets of measuring cups were set out near the bowls for those who wanted to measure their ingredients. They were largely ignored.
The rug in the Elks lodge was covered in plastic taped to the floor under the staging area.
Participants, most working in small groups, carried plastic bins from ingredient to ingredient, adding several handfuls of kale, more handfuls of cabbage, and mixing it with their hands. They consider the stuffing's appearance and then go back to the ingredients to adjust their own mixture.
"We don't want it to burn our mouths, but we want it spicy," said Laura Garren, who was putting together a ham with three friends and debating how the spices should be adjusted.
"It's all about how it looks when it's mixed," Caldwell said of his own mixture, which included plenty of crushed red pepper. "You make it look like Christmas … green and red."
One of the youngest participants, Jayden Smoak, 8, of Mechanicsville, a third-grader at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School, helped as his family stuffed their ham together.
Sean Smoak, Jayden's father, is lead carpenter with Feicht Contracting, and has been involved in the holiday stuffed ham party for about four or five years, he said, as he and his fiancee, Fallon Gilbert, and Jayden placed a corned ham in the center of their stuffing mixture, cut deep slits into the meat and then crammed as much stuffing as they could into each crevice.
"I'm never going to get to the end of this hole," Jayden said as he pushed another handful of spicy vegetables into the ham.
After two hours of mixing, adjusting, laughing, debating and drinking — "stuffed ham is best eaten and prepared while drinking a 10-ounce Budweiser," several people noted — partiers loaded up their stuffed hams in coolers or large pans and prepared for a long night of baking or boiling.
Caldwell plans to bake his ham again this year. "Absolutely," he said. "My dad still boils his and says I'm nuts for baking it."
Tammy Feicht said quietly to the side that the best way to cook a stuffed ham is in an oven bag. "It comes out so moist and perfect, and it doesn't stink up the house," she said.
