Dry-cured ham from the Appalachian foothills: salt-cured, hickory-smoked, aged six months or more. Served thin on biscuits at breakfast, or as a cured meat platter.
Where to eat it: 9 restaurants across 3 cities.
Country ham is a Carolina mountain tradition: pigs raised in the Appalachian foothills, cured with salt rubs, smoked over hickory, aged through the cool months. The technique came with Scotch-Irish settlers in the 1700s. Greenville sits at the edge of country ham country; Soby's keeps a country ham starter on the menu year-round.
Common allergens: Pork
Tip from the editors. Don't add salt. Country ham brings its own. The coffee redeye gravy is the traditional Carolina mountain accompaniment.
Soby's anchors the Main Street dining scene in Greenville: Carl Sobocinski's 1997 New Southern flagship in a former dry-goods store, with she-crab soup.
Signature: She-crab soup, Spicy pimento cheese, Fried green tomato Benedict
Tupelo Honey runs scratch-made Southern on the North Main corner: fried chicken biscuits, shrimp and grits, sweet potato pancakes. Asheville-born group.
Signature: Fried chicken biscuit, Shrimp and grits, Sweet potato pancakes
Stella's Southern Brasserie runs French-influenced Southern from a Rocky Slope Road storefront: shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, bourbon-pecan tart.
Signature: Shrimp and grits, Fried green tomatoes, Bourbon-pecan tart
Loveless Cafe on Highway 100 in Nashville has served scratch biscuits, country ham and redeye gravy since 1951, anchoring the Natchez Trace's tourist circuit.
Order: Country ham with redeye gravy and biscuits
Tip: Lines build by 09:00 weekends; put your name down and shop the on-site Hams & Jams Country Market while you wait.
Sean Brock's Rutledge Hill institution in Nashville cooks ingredient-driven Southern food on a wood hearth, recommended in the 2025 Michelin Guide American.
Order: Cornbread skillet, then whatever the menu lists from the wood hearth.
Tip: Lunch is quieter with the same kitchen. Book the porch seats in spring; they overlook downtown.
Monell's family-style Southern dining in Germantown, Nashville has run since 1995, seating strangers at communal tables in a Victorian house north.
Signature: Family-style Southern lunch, Skillet fried chicken
Order: The full family-style spread: fried chicken, country ham, mac and cheese, greens.
Tip: Reservations available; tables seat ten. Sunday brunch is the marquee meal, books a week ahead.
Sally Bell's Kitchen has sold box lunches since 1924, founded by Sarah Cabell Jones and Elizabeth Lee Milton. Broad Street counter is easy to miss.
Order: Box lunch.
Why locals love it: Sally Bell's has sold the same box lunch since 1924, and most visitors miss the unmarked side counter near West Broad. A century of Richmond box-lunch history.
Tip: Call ahead; the deviled-egg-and-cheese-wafer box is the local-Saturday standard.
The Roosevelt in Church Hill opens for Sunday brunch under chef Leah Branch, 2026 James Beard semifinalist. Southern cuisine, biscuits, deep menu.
Order: Country ham biscuit with gravy.
Tip: Book the 11 am Sunday slot; the Roosevelt also runs an extended brunch sit-down upstairs.
Lemaire inside the Jefferson Hotel is named for Etienne Lemaire, Thomas Jefferson's maitre d'. Patrick Willis runs the kitchen, the city's grande dame.
More cities are in research. Want country ham covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.