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 U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

, northern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

and eastern

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, the slicing process is also referred to as "Pittsburgh style". Sometimes the chopped ham, once chipped, is mixed and heated with

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting (cooking), basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs (food), ribs and chicken as food, chicken. I ...

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 Isaly's () was a chain of family-owned dairies and restaurants started in Mansfield, Ohio, Mansfield (Richland County, Ohio, Richland County), Ohio, with locations throughout the American Midwest from the early 20th century until the 1970s. It ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era when it was heavily marketed as a luncheon meat suitable for packed lunches. Former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

soldiers likened it to

Spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...

, 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 The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

facilities that process pork products and is marketed under a variety of commercial brand names.

See also

References

Further reading