Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

The salt packing is the best for warm weather. The hams may be thickly sprinkled with ground pepper, tied closely in sacks, and then hung in a cool dark place, when the weather is cool. REMOVES (RELEVÉS). 131 BAM COOKED IN CIDER. Soak a ham over night in sufficient cold water to entirely cover it ; the next morning trim it neatly, put it over the fire in enough cold water to cover it, with one pint of cider and half a cupful of brown sugar ; cover the kettle, and boil the ham slowly for four hours, or until the skin peels off easily. When the ham is cooked enough, take it out of the water in which it was boiled, remove the skin, and lay the ham in a dripping-pan ; pour into the dripping-pan a pint of cider, sprinkle the ham plentifully with brown sugar, and place it in a moderate oven to bake one hour ; every fifteen minutes baste the ham with the cider in the pan. When the ham is cooked, take it from the dripping-pan, free the cider in the pan from grease, season it lightly with pepper, and use it as a sauce for the ham, which may be served either hot or cold. PLAIN BOILED HAM. Soak the ham over night in cold water, and then boil it in enough water to cover it, with a dried red pepper, or a teaspoonful each of whole cloves and peppercorns, boiling it twenty minutes to a pound ; after the ham is done, remove the skin, and serve it hot, or let it cool in the water in which it was boiled. Cooks usually put little spots of pepper on the fat of the ham after skinning it. BAKED OR ROAST HAM. After a ham has been boiled and skinned as directed above, dust it with bread or cracker crumbs, and quickly brown it in a hot oven : serve it either hot or cold. A glass of madeira is a popular addition to the gravy or sauce of roast ham. TO SMOKE A MUTTON HAM. Trim a good leg of mutton in the form of a ham, and let it hang for two days. Heat in a thick saucepan half a pound each of rock and table salt and brown sugar, and two ounces of 'powdered saltpetre. When all these ingredients are thoroughly warm, rub them well into the ham, and place it in a wooden or earthen vessel, and let it stand for four days, turning it every day. The fourth day, rub a handful of dry salt over the ham, and let it stand for two days longer ; then dry it, and hang it in a wood smoke for a week. BOILED MUTTON HAM. After the mutton ham has been prepared, as directed in' the recipe for smoking it, wash it in cold water, and soak it over night in enough cold water to cover it. The next day drain it, put it over the fire in enough cold water to cover it, let the water heat to the boiling-point, and then boil the ham gently twenty minutes to a pound. Half an hour before the ham' is done, boil with it half a dozen turnips peeled, or a head of cabbage first washed in cold water, if either of these vegetables is desired to serve with the ham. Or serve it simply with a dish of plain boiled potatoes. NEW-ENGLAND SALT PORK.