___________________________________________________________________________________ Goodnight Brothers
Waste not , want not
Besides whole country hams , the company ’ s portfolio features 35 different products with a range of smaller sizes , such as ham trimmings and biscuit slices , to larger options like center slices and ham hocks used for seasoning .
“ We also sell pepper side meat ( typically used for seasoning ), a variety of flavors of pork skins , and some of the best dry-cured , hickory-smoked bacon you ’ ve ever tasted !” Tony continues .
“ Most of these items are generally sold directly to food service and retail distributors ,” he details . “ These two areas make up around two-thirds of our overall business , and they play a vital role in clearing the inventory of bi-products , which allows us to utilize the entire ham . The other third is made up of our chain accounts , such as Hardee ’ s and Bojangles .”
▼ Jim Goodnight ( seated ) and Bill Goodnight ( standing )
Bringing home the bacon
“ Country hams and other forms of cured meats were a necessity before the days of refrigeration ,” Bill explains . “ People would salt their meat down to keep it for longer than a few weeks , and every household would rear a pig to kill in time for Christmas .
“ Back then it would be salted , wrapped in paper , and strung up in the barn to cure climatically – the same way we started out .
“ Once the ham house was built , we were able to bring mother nature inside by creating each of the seasons in a controlled environment , meaning that our ninemonth cures only took 100 days !”
In 2020 , the company purchased a 50,000-square-foot curing facility , located 20 miles foodchainmagazine . com 125