The encyclopaedia of practical cookery

In cookery, Hams are used for a variety of purposes ; indeed, they are the very keystone to many dishes with which their names are not even associated. Continental cooks are especially indebted to Hams for their successes, hence they pay great attention to their treatment. The following is a very useful mode of preparing Ham for occasional use, the bone being removed and used for flavouring soups or sauces : With a sharp knife cut round the knuckle and lengthwise along and right down to the edge of the bone, until the aitch-bone is reached ; then make a straight cross-cut right round, and the bone can be removed. Keep the Ham hung up in a dry place, and when any slices are required, say for frying or broiling, they are easily obtained, and the skin trimmed off. Baked Ham. — Put a Ham weighing about 101b. into a bowl with a good supply of water, and let it soak for twelve hours or so. Take it out, trim off all the rusty or uneatable parts from the underneath side, and spread it over thickly with a paste of flour and water. Put it in a baking-dish, set it in a well-heated oven, and bake for about four hours. When done, take it out, carefully remove the flour-and-water crust, skin, brush over with glaze or grate a little crust of bread over it, place a paper frill on the knuckle, and serve with a garnish of vegetables cooked and cut up into various shapes. By this mode of cooking a Ham, it is stewed in its own juice, loses nothing, and is very full of flavour. Baked stuffed Ham. -Boil the Ham till it can easily be skinned, take off the skin, and gash the Ham to the bone ; fill up the cuts with a forcemeat of sifted breadcrumbs, finely chopped parsley, a very little thyme, a seasoning of pepper and salt, and sufficient butter to mix these ingredients to a paste. Brush over the Ham with well-beaten yolks of eggs, sprinkle it with sifted breadcrumbs, and bake slowly till quite done. Or if a hot boiled Ham be served up, and but a little of it used, the space where the slices have been taken from may be filled with forcemeat, brushed over with beaten egg, sprinkled with breadcrumbs, and put into the oven till browned, the Ham being already sufficiently cooked. Boiled Ham. — (1) Wash the Ham, put it in a saucepan, and cover with hot water ; simmer gently for five hours, then move the saucepan on one side, and let the Ham remain in the water for one or two hours longer. When nearly cold, take it out, skin it, and sprinkle over baked breadcrumbs and about 3 table-spoonfuls of fine moist sugar. (2) Select a freshly-smoked York Ham, soak it in cold water for a few hours, scrape it, put it in a kettle or a large saucepan, cover with water, and put in a few vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, and onions, two or three cloves and peppercorns, and a bunch of sweet herbs ; simmer for three-and-ahalf -hours, then take the kettle off the fire, and let the Ham remain three-quarters-of-an-hour in its liquor. When ready 3 K Sauces, &c., referred to, see under their special heads. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Hams — continued.