Common Sense in the Household 24

Common Sense in the Household 24

Pulverize and mix the seasoning, with the exception of the two quarts

of salt, using the one pint only. Rub the meat _well_ all over, and lay

upon boards on the cellar-floor for twenty-four hours. Then, put a few

clean stones in the bottom of a barrel; lay sticks across these, that

the meat may not soak in the liquor that drains from it. Pack the meat

in layers, strewing between these the remaining two quarts of salt. Let

it lie in the cask for fifteen or sixteen days, every day during this

time tipping the cask to drain off the liquor, or drawing it through a

bung-hole near the bottom. Pour this back in cupfuls over the meat.

 

If you do not mean to smoke the meat, take it out at the end of the

fortnight, rub each piece well over with dry salt, and return to the

barrel. If the liquor does not cover it, make fresh brine in the

proportion of two pounds of salt, a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre,

and a quart of water, and pour in when you have boiled it half an hour

and let it cool. Lay a round piece of board upon the upper layer and

keep this down with stones. Examine from time to time, to be sure the

meat is keeping well. Should it seem likely to taint, throw away the

pickle, rub each piece over with dry salt, and pack anew. Pork pickled

in this way will keep two years.

 

 

TO CURE HAMS.

 

Having pickled your hams with the rest of your pork as just directed,

take them, after the lapse of sixteen days, from the packing barrel,

with the shoulders and jowls. At the South they empty the cask, and

consign the “whole hog” to the smoke-house. Wash off the pickle, and,

while wet, dip in bran. Some use saw-dust, but it is not so good.

Others use neither, only wipe the meat dry and smoke. The object in

dipping in bran or saw-dust is to form a crust which prevents the

evaporation of the juices. Be sure that it is well covered with the

bran, then hang in the smoke, the hock end downward. Keep up a good

smoke, by having the fire partially smothered with hickory chips and

saw dust, for four weeks, taking care the house does not become hot.

Take down the meat, brush off the bran, examine closely, and if you

suspect insects, lay it in the hot sun for a day or two.

 

The various ways of keeping hams—each strongly recommended by those who

have practised it—are too numerous to mention here. Some pack in wood

ashes; others, in dry oats; others, in bran. But the best authorities

discard packing altogether. I will name one or two methods which I

know have been successful. “I hang mine on hooks from wires, at the

top of my granary, which is tight and dark,” says an excellent judge

and manufacturer of hams. “They are good and sweet when a year old.”

Another admirable housekeeper covers with brown paper, then with coarse

muslin stitched tightly and fitting closely, then whitewashes. But for

the paper, the lime would be apt to eat away the grease. Still another

covers with muslin, and coats with a mixture of bees-wax and rosin.

There is no doubt that the covers are an excellent precaution—provided

always, that the insects have not already deposited their eggs in the

meat. The bran coating tends to prevent this.

 

I have eaten ham twenty years old in Virginia, which had been kept

sweet in _slaked_ ashes. Unslaked will act like lime upon the fat.

 

 

BOILED HAM.

 

Soak in water over night. Next morning wash hard with a coarse cloth

or stiff brush, and put on to boil with plenty of cold water. Allow a

quarter of an hour to each pound in cooking, and do not boil too fast.

Do not remove the skin until cold; it will come off easily and cleanly

then, and the juices are better preserved than when it is stripped hot.

Send to table with dots of pepper or dry mustard on the top, a tuft of

fringed paper twisted about the shank, and garnish with parsley.

 

Cut very thin in carving.

 

 

GLAZED HAM. ✠

 

Brush the ham—a cold boiled one, from which the skin has been

taken—well, all over with beaten egg. To a cup of powdered cracker

allow enough rich milk or cream to make into a thick paste, salt, and

work in a teaspoonful of melted butter. Spread this evenly a quarter of

an inch thick over the ham, and set to brown in a moderate oven.

 

 

STEAMED HAM.

 

This is by far the best way of cooking a ham. Lay in cold water for

twelve hours; wash very thoroughly, rubbing with a stiff brush, to

dislodge the salt and smoke on the outside. Put into a steamer, cover

closely, and set it over a pot of boiling water. Allow at least twenty

minutes to a pound. Keep the water at a hard boil.

 

If you serve ham hot, skin, and immediately strew thickly with cracker

or bread-crumbs, to prevent the waste of the essence. Put a frill of

paper about the knuckle. Send around cabbage or other green vegetables

with it.

 

 

BAKED HAM.

 

Soak for twelve hours. Trim away the rusty part from the under side

and edges, wipe very dry, cover the bottom with a paste made of flour

and hot water, and lay it upside down in the dripping-pan, with water

enough to keep it from burning. Bake five hours, or allow fully

twenty-five minutes to a pound. Baste now and then, to prevent the

crust from cracking and scaling off. When done, peel off this and the

skin, and glaze as you would a cold ham.

 

Put cut paper about the knuckle, and garnish with parsley and sliced

red beet—pickled.

 

 

ROAST HAM.

 

Soak for two days in lukewarm water, changing at least six times a

day. Take it out, wash very well, scrubbing the under part hard, and

trimming away the black and rusty edges. Skin with care, lest you

mangle the meat and spoil the symmetry of the shape. Lay in a dish and

sponge with a cloth dipped in a mixture of wine, vinegar, sugar, and

mustard—about a tablespoonful of white sugar, a saltspoonful of made

mustard, and a glass of wine to half a gill of vinegar. Do this at

intervals of an hour, washing every part of the ham well, all day and

until bed-time. Renew the process next morning until six hours before

you need the meat. Put it upon the spit or in the dripping-pan, with a

cup of hot water to prevent burning. Add to the mixture—or what is left

of it in the dish—a cupful of boiling water. Keep this on the stove and

baste continually with it until the liquor flows freely from the ham as

it cooks; then substitute the gravy. When done (you must test with a

fork), cover with cracker-crumbs, worked to a paste with milk, butter,

and a beaten egg, and return to the oven to brown.

 

Skim the gravy; add a glass of good wine, a tablespoonful of

catsup,—walnut, if you have it,—the juice of a lemon, and a little

nutmeg. Boil up, and send to table in a boat.

 

Troublesome as the mode of cooking it may seem, roast ham is so

delicious—especially when cold—as fully to recompense the housekeeper

who may be tempted to try it.

 

 

BROILED HAM.

 

Cut in slices. Wash well, and soak in scalding water in a covered

vessel for half an hour. Pour off the water, and add more boiling

water. Wipe dry when the ham has stood half an hour in the second

water, and lay in cold for five minutes. Wipe again and broil over (or

under) a clear fire.

 

Cold boiled ham, that is not too much done, is better for broiling than

raw. Pepper before serving.

 

 

BARBECUED HAM. ✠

 

If your ham is raw, soak as above directed; then lay the slices flat in

a frying-pan; pepper each and lay upon it a quarter of a teaspoonful of

made mustard. Pour about them some vinegar, allowing half a teaspoonful

to each slice. Fry quickly and turn often. When done to a fine brown,

transfer to a hot dish: add to the gravy in the pan half a glass of

wine and a very small teaspoonful of white sugar. Boil up and pour over

the meat.

 

Underdone ham is nice barbecued.

 

 

FRIED HAM.

 

If raw, soak as for broiling. Cook in a hot frying-pan turning often

until done. Serve with or without the gravy, as you please. In some

parts of the country it is customary to take the meat first from the

pan, and add to the gravy a little cream, then thicken with flour. Boil

up once and pour over the ham. A little chopped parsley is a pleasant

addition to this gravy.

 

 

_Or,_

 

You may dip some slices of cold boiled ham—cut rather thick—in beaten

egg, then in cracker-crumbs, and fry them in fat extracted from some

bits of salt pork. Take the dry fried pork from the pan before putting

in the ham. Garnish with crisped parsley.

 

 

HAM SANDWICHES.

 

Cut some slices of bread in a neat shape, and trim off the crust,

unless it is very tender. Butter them and lay between every two some

thin slices of cold boiled ham. Spread the meat with a little mustard

if you like.

 

Ground ham makes delicious sandwiches. Cut the bread very thin, and

butter well. Put in a good layer of ham, and press the two sides of the

sandwiches firmly, but gently, together. Then roll lengthwise, and pile

in a plate or basket.

 

 

HAM AND CHICKEN SANDWICHES.

 

Mince some cold roast chicken, and a like quantity of cold boiled ham.

Put the mixture into a saucepan, with enough gravy—chicken or veal—to

make a soft paste. If you have no gravy, use a little hot water, a

few spoonfuls of cream, and a fair lump of butter. Season with pepper

to your taste. Stir while it heats almost to boiling, working it very

smooth. In about five minutes after it begins to smoke, take from the

fire and spread in a dish to cool. With a good-sized cake-cutter, or

a plain thin-edged tumbler, cut some rounds of cold bread, and butter

one side of each. Sprinkle the buttered sides with grated cheese, and,

when the chicken is cold, put a layer between these.

 

These sandwiches are simple and very good.