Allan Benton has the “Christmas Cure” for your holiday feast
Traditionally, it’s a ham for Christmas dinner. But how do you make it your own besides dousing it in brown sugar or Coca-Cola? Just like when you go to pick your Christmas tree, make it special by simply shopping local and select your own meaty masterpiece and leave the flavoring to them.
He may not be a doctor but Allan Benton of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams, has been curing what ails you in the pig department for over 50 years.
Benton boasts how he comes from a long line of smokers and curers because “that’s what you did back then.” The process is not a mystery—salt and sugar, time and temperature. “It’s all a fine balance, but it’s not rocket science,” he explains, adding that bacon and ham are already good but to add the fulfillment of preserving an age old process feeds the soul.
With Benton’s Bacon featured on many local Chattanooga menus like The Feed Co. and St. John’s, people forget that they specialize in hams too. The hams are cured for several months then hung up to age for lengths of over a year, depending on how much flavor they want to bring to the surface.
The Unsmoked Country Ham is aged 8-10 months and is more traditional. The Aged Country Ham is smoked then aged 12-14 months and gives a more intense, complex flavor. Fun fact: If you Wikipedia “Country Ham,” Benton is pictured holding one of his beautiful hams!
From Missouri, they receive 400 hogs which makes 800 hams and averages 20,000 pounds of fresh pork belly weekly. Plant Manager Tommy Bateman says tno local farms can meet the supply that Benton demands.
Just past the main lobby, lies pallets of orders ready to be shipped to cities such as Seattle, Tampa, New York and DC. One of their biggest and most prestigious clients is right around the corner at the five star Blackberry Farms in Walland, TN.
Even with such a glamourous gamut of clientele and world class product, Benton’s caters to the individual consumer and offers custom smoking and curing for small orders as well. Witnessing two large, burly guys in reflective vests checking out with two armloads of brown bagged goodness reassured me that I was in the right place for pork.
As I waited in the quaint shop lobby to interview him, sitting on a well-loved refurbished pew across from the delectable deli case, a couple from Florida walked in. “We heard y’all have the best bacon around,” they said.
An extremely attentive employee, Andrew, immediately responded back with, “You’ve heard right” and began to show them through the product line pointing out the smoked bacon and prosciutto is the most popular. The deli case features other local products too like Amish sorghum, cheese and preserves.
This salted gem is located in Madisonville, TN which is conveniently just off I-75 sandwiched in between Cleveland and Knoxville. Having taken this journey several times recently for business and pleasure, I highly recommend making time to take an impromptu tour of Benton’s operation as everyone on site is smiling and willing to share the story behind the hand-crafted, hand-sealed deliciousness they’re creating.
If unable to set forth on this meaty excursion, simply order the goods like a 15 lb. Whole Hickory Smoked Country Ham or an Aged Whole Country Ham from their website at bentonscountryhams2.com or call (423) 442-5003 and they’ll bless you with the cured.