"Six months after we’d moved to Virginia and were invited to holiday parties at neighbors’ houses, my snide teenage self noticed one consistent thing on the buffet tables in every home: No matter how elaborate or basic the rest of the family’s offerings were, there would always be a tray of ham biscuits. I’m not talking lofty just-baked biscuits piled with thick slices of moist ham. These were/are little flat, squared-off supermarket-bakery-made biscuits, with a light dusting of flour on top and inside a modest smear of unsalted butter and a few skimpy shavings of crimson-red dry ham. My teen self smirked but, of course, tried one. And unseen angels burst into song, praising pork and all its goodness. Virginia ham is famous for a reason. It’s smoky and strong and you only need a few meager shards to create a flavor explosion of salt and fat and something altogether holy in your mouth. Unless you’ve got a grandaddy with a smokehouse, Edwards Virginia Smokehouse is the way to go. Use this to make ham biscuits, frittatas, sandwiches, and hors d’oeuvres or look for recipes that use pancetta or jamon and substitute a taste of Virginia instead." - Lyndsey Matthews
