Home › The Principles of Cookery › Ham, Broiled
Ham, Broiled
Slices of ham for breakfast may be either broiled on a gridiron, toasted, or fried. They are, we think, best when toasted on a fork. If broiled, the fire must be very clear. The ham should not be more than the eighth of an inch in thickness, and is better when soaked in hot water for a quarter of an hour, and then dried in a cloth before being cooked. Turn it as it gets crisp. Time, five or six minutes to broil. Probable cost, 1s. 2d. per pound.
A method note rather than a formal recipe, and the whole of it turns on how thin the ham is cut. At an eighth of an inch it cooks through before it can dry out.
- The hinge: thicknessAn eighth of an inch is thinner than most pre-packed ham steaks. Ask for it sliced on a machine, or chill a piece of cooked ham briefly to firm it before slicing by hand.
- What ham means hereHam at this date would generally have been dry-cured and considerably saltier than modern equivalents. Modern wet-cured supermarket gammon is much milder, so the soaking step is usually unnecessary.
- The hot-water soakA quarter of an hour in hot water draws out surface salt from an aggressively cured ham. Judge by tasting the ham first; with today's cures a two- or three-minute rinse is plenty, and a heavily brined slice will otherwise turn out watery.
- Dry it properlyDrying in a cloth is not fussiness. Wet ham steams rather than browns, and the crisped edges are the point of the dish.
- "Toasted on a fork"Held on a long fork close to the coals of an open grate. A hot ridged grill pan or a heavy frying pan is the modern equivalent; a fatty slice will usually render enough of its own fat.
- A very clear fireMeans glowing coals with no flame or smoke. Under a gas or electric grill, preheat to the highest setting and cook close to the element.
- TimingFive or six minutes total is right for coals; under a fierce grill or in a hot pan, thin slices need more like one to two minutes a side. Take them off the moment the edges curl and colour.
The preference for toasting on a fork over the gridiron belongs to the era of the open coal range, where a fork let the cook control the distance from the coals. Salt curing was still primarily a preservation method rather than a flavour choice, which is why the soaking instruction appears at all: hams were cured to survive months in a larder, and a slice off a heavily cured ham could be genuinely too salty to eat straight from the pan. As commercial wet curing and reliable refrigeration spread through the twentieth century, cures grew milder and the preliminary soak became less common.