Chipped chopped ham or chipped ham is a processed ham luncheon meat made from chopped ham. Chopped ham is a mixture of ham chunks and trimmings and seasonings, ground together and then packaged into loaves. By chipping or shaving the meat loaf against a commercial meat slicer blade, the resultant thinly sliced product has a different texture and flavor compared to thickly sliced ham. In

western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...

, northern

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

and eastern

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, the slicing process is also referred to as "Pittsburgh style". Sometimes the chopped ham, once chipped, is mixed and heated with barbecue sauce before it is made into a sandwich. In the Pittsburgh region, sandwiches of "ham barbecue" or "barbecued chipped ham" are commonly served at home and available at lunch counters. The chain Isaly's helped to popularize chipped chopped ham. Chipped chopped ham reached a broad audience in the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

era when it was heavily marketed as a luncheon meat suitable for

packed lunch A packed lunch (also called pack lunch, sack lunch or brown-bag lunch in North America) is a lunch which is prepared before arriving at the place where it is to be eaten. Typically, it is prepared at home or at a hotel, or produced commerciall ...

es. Former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

soldiers likened it to

Spam Spam most often refers to: * Spam (food), a consumer brand product of canned processed pork of the Hormel Foods Corporation * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ...

, to which they had grown accustomed while in the army. Its popularity has been furthered by its relatively low cost per pound. The product is produced by a few meat packing facilities that process pork products and is marketed under a variety of commercial brand names.

See also

References

Further reading