BADGER HAM…

Historically, the ham was dry-cured and slow-aged or cooked with mild heat with smoke. The German tradition was to brine hams by soaking them in a salt and water solution and placing hams inside of their chimney above the cooking fire to cook their hams slowly. Other approaches used were to dry cure by coating hams in salt-based mixture and to allow the salt to preserve the meat over long periods of time.

What is now called “Cooked Ham” or “Boiled Ham” is a relatively new invention in the meat world. The fresh ham could be brine-cured using brine injection needles and cooked for consumption in a very short period of time without air drying or smoking with or without heat being added to accelerate the cooking process. It was possible to cure one day, cook two days later, and have a ham that was fully cooked without added smoke or risk of foodborne illness.

Company Founder, Jacob Schwellinger, knew that this new type of ham would be a good product to add to his smoked ham product line, and in the 1930s, there was an opportunity to gain market share. Boiled ham was less salty, slightly sweet, and easy to use. Delicatessens, bakeries, and grocers added the product to their deli case.

During this time it was common practice to not eat before attending church, but have a shared meal after mass. Afterward, as is still common in Europe, after-service meals were a family event and lunch was reserved for something quick and easy. The dinner was considered to be the important meal of the day. Purchasing bread and bakery was a fast and easy meal solution that could be served quickly.

The tradition of heating ham up started at this time and more businesses (even liquor stores!)  tried to capture a share of the Sunday opportunity. There was a lot of variation in how businesses heated their ham using ovens, roasting pans, Nesko-style devices, etc. There were also many ways to add a special glaze and flavors to the ham: Jams, jellies, sugar, flavored sodas like root beer, ginger ale, beer, slices of fruit, etc.  There are still secrets to the recipe and Badger Ham has its own approach to baking hams for customers using three different types of cooked ham (one even has honey in the ham), scoring, blending of sugars, and seasoning and baking.

The types of bread and hard rolls in particular were important for a business’s success on Sundays (Potato, Keiser, Sesame, Poppy, Butter, etc.) and became part of the public options for Sundays. And, of course, donuts and pastries were an added treat for lunch.

Things began to evolve and Bomberg’s bakery (Meurer mentioned it in his bubbler interview) started to give six free rolls with a pound of hot ham to attract more customers. The idea added volume and he sold more bakery items. The introduction of premade salads (potato, noodle, coleslaw, etc.), cheeses, cakes, bread for the week, etc., added to the cash register too.

Bob Meurer, of Meurer’s Bakery, was instrumental in promoting six free rolls with every pound of ham on a large, citywide scale at his family-owned network of bakeries in the 1970s. All the while, grocery store chains by Roundy’s (sp) A&P, Kohl’s, etc., had been growing and small grocery store and bakery operators were losing market share but still having success on Sundays. The chains realized that they had to serve a unique local tradition (much like the Friday Night Fish Fry) and they modified their operations to serve hot ham and rolls.

Today, there is a mix of locally owned businesses in Wisconsin and grocery chains that provide primarily Sunday Hot Ham and Rolls with a few that sell on Saturdays. Most have their own way of preparing the ham and they do not disclose their recipes. Badger Ham does produce baked ham for customers using the finest blend of sugars and seasonings with a specially designed oven for the baking/glazing process.