The ham biscuit is the Virginia tea-table and tailgate staple. Country-cured Smithfield ham sliced paper-thin and pressed inside a small buttermilk biscuit. Sally Bell's box-lunch standard since 1924.

Captain Mallory Todd of Smithfield, Virginia (about 70 miles east of Richmond) made the first known commercial export of cured Smithfield ham in 1779; Virginia's General Assembly later codified the Smithfield ham name in a 1926 statute restricting it to hams cured, smoked and processed within the town. The dry-cure-and-smoke method of country-curing pork hindquarters became a colonial Virginia trade. The biscuit-and-ham combination appears in early-twentieth-century Virginia cookbooks as the canonical tea-table snack. Sally Bell's Kitchen has sold them in their box lunches since 1924, and Mama J's Kitchen in Jackson Ward keeps them on the menu today.

Where to eat Smithfield ham biscuit in Richmond

3 editor picks for Smithfield ham biscuit in Richmond, ranked by editorial score. All Richmond signature dishes · Smithfield ham biscuit across every city.

Book food experiences in Richmond

See all 83 food experiences in Richmond

Make it at home

Serves 1235 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 300g self-raising flour
  • 100g cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 200ml cold buttermilk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 200g thinly-sliced Smithfield (or other country-cured) ham
  • Soft butter for spreading

Method

  1. Heat oven to 220 C. Rub butter into flour and salt with fingertips until pebbly.
  2. Pour in buttermilk and stir with a fork until just combined. Turn out and fold gently twice, do not overwork.
  3. Pat to 2cm thick, cut with a 5cm round cutter. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until risen and golden.
  4. Split warm, spread with butter, fold in two thin slices of country ham. Serve immediately.

Editor tip. Country ham is salty by design. Don't add salt to the biscuit beyond what's in the flour, and skip the mustard.