Boiled Ham

Ingredients

• a ham
• cold water
• grated crackers
• black pepper
• parsley

Method

1. 1

   Soak the ham for 12 hours, scrape and sun it.

2. 2

   Cook in cold water slowly.

3. 3

   Leave in pot until cold, then skin and brown in the oven with grated crackers and black pepper.

4. 4

   Serve garnished with parsley.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from The Queen Cook Book: A Careful Compilation of Recipes and Practical ... (1895) by William Hart Boyd, page 29. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

black pepper. The same flavoring may also be applied to jowls if desired. Pack the hams away, with the skin side down, leaving them in the bulk from four to six weeks, according to the weather, as it takes the saltpeter a longer time to strike in when the weather is cold. In old times when they were unpacked the hams were always put in the smokehouse and smoked about six weeks by a slow, smoldering fire made of green hickory chips. About April first, the smoking was completed, and then there were two ways of proceeding; either to leave the meat hanging or to pack it away again in hickory ashes carefully saved during the process of smoking. The latter plan was doubtless the best and safest. When it was pursued there never was any complaint of skippers or other vermin in the meat. This was the method pursued by the Massie family, in Virginia, whose hams commanded an extra price from their superior excellence. The early spring is the time these insects first appear, and as the smoking goes on then, it serves to keep them at bay. But of late years Virginians have almost given up smoking their meat. We kill hogs on so much smaller a scale than in slavery times that we can keep the meat in our store- rooms without the need of a smokehouse. Some hoiisekeepers congratulate themselves on having cut loose from' the old, troublesome method of curing meat, and they say it is just as well flavored without smoking. Possibly it may be; but I have noticed that skippers and other insects have increased enormously since we discontinued smoking our meat, and many a The Queen Cook Booh JJ ham that ought to have furnished the family with choice cuts finds its way into the soap fat. I am, therefore, convinced that the old plan is the best and safest. If, however, this is inconvenient, try to pro- tect the meat from insects by means of bags. As soon as they have dried out, after being unpacked from the bulk, rub them thoroughly with black pepper, and put them in sacks of stout cotton, tied above the hock. Do this by the middle, or at latest by the last, of Feb- ruary, as any delay might occasion the loss or serious damage of the meat. The mode of boiling a ham has a great effect on its flavor. A ham should be soaked twelve hours before it is cooked. Then it should be scraped and sunned the previous day, unless it is very fresh. It should be put on in cold water, and cooked slowly and gradually. Then leave it in the pot until it is cold, as it will thus re-absorb a considerable portion of the juices it has given out in boiling. Then skin it, and brown it slightly in the oven, sprinkling it first with grated crackers and a little black pepper. Serve it in a dish garnished with parsley

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.