 |
Take a fine freshly salted, smoked ham, pare the meats also the fat, which should be exceedingly white; suppress the hip bone, saw off the knuckle bone and then unsalt the ham in a plentiful supply of water for twenty-four hours. |
DELMONICO’S RECIPES FROM
A "GILDED AGE"
FOR AN 1894 THANKSGIVING
BOILED HAM
with Sprouts
"Jambon Bouilli aux Epinards "
from : The Epicurean, by Charles Ranhofer, 1894.
from : Thanksgiving "a la Carte"
|
Take a fine freshly salted, smoked ham, pare the meats also the fat, which should be exceedingly white; suppress the hip bone, saw off the knuckle bone and then unsalt the ham in a plentiful supply of water for twenty-four hours. |
If it should have been dried and salted for some time prior to the day of using, then it will require thirty-six hours of unsalting. Wash, drain and tie it in a towel. Five hours before serving lay it in a large braziere or soup pot with four times its volume of cold water, adding four quartered carrots, two onions containing six cloves, a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme, bay leaf, basil and mace, then let it boil and simmer slowly for four hours more or less, according to the weight and size of the ham, calculating a quarter of an hour for each pound.
To be assured that it is properly cooked, run the tip of a skewer into the flesh and if it can be withdrawn at once the ham is sufficiently done. Remove the braziere or pot from the fire half an hour before serving; drain the ham on a dish, take off the towel and pare the rind and fat tastefully; clean the handle bone thoroughly cutting off the meat for about two and a half inches from the end, then set it in the oven to dry the surface. Garnish the top of the fat with a thin layer of quenelle forcemeat, containing lobster butter, and arrange in the center of this a fanciful decoration of pistachioes, truffles, etc., cover with buttered paper. Set the ham in the oven to poach the forcemeat, or if preferred glazed, then replace it by a glaze made by besprinkling the fat with sugar and glazing it of a fine reddish color. Dress the ham on a garnishing of spinach, trim the handle with a frill and lay around some triangle-shaped croutons fried in butter; serve with a Madeira sauce.
Return to THANKSGIVING RECIPES FROM AMERICA'S PAST
Updated 14 July, 1998