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Ham, Glazing Of
Remove the rind, and, to do so, take hold of it at the thick end first. Trim the ham neatly, put it in the oven for a few minutes, and press a cloth over it to dry it; brush it over with a paste brush dipped in melted glaze. The colour should not be too dark. Two or three coats are required. To melt the glaze, put the jar which contains it into a saucepan of boiling water, and stir it until dissolved. As has been explained elsewhere (see GLAZE), glaze is simply strong clear gravy boiled to the consistency of syrup.
This is a finishing technique for a ham that has already been boiled or baked and is destined to be served cold. The glaze here is not the brown-sugar-and-mustard coating the word suggests today, and that single point governs everything else.
- What "glaze" means hereCassell's glaze is strong meat stock reduced to a syrup, which sets to a firm brown jelly when cold. It contains no sugar. The modern equivalent is a well-reduced veal or beef stock; commercially, meat glace (glace de viande) sold in tubs does the same job.
- The ham must be coldThe surface matters -- A meat glaze sets best on a cool surface, and a warm ham lets the coats run. Note, though, that the recipe itself warms the ham in the oven and dries it with a cloth immediately before brushing, so Cassell's is working with a dry, still-warm surface rather than a chilled one.
- The oven stepThe few minutes in the oven are purely to dry the surface, not to reheat; the recipe specifies no temperature and does not describe the oven at all. A modern alternative is to skip the oven and blot the fat dry with kitchen paper.
- Melting the glazeStanding the jar in a pan of boiling water is a water bath. A heatproof jug or small bowl over barely simmering water works the same way; direct heat scorches a reduced stock very quickly and turns it bitter.
- Two or three coatsEach coat must be fully set before the next goes on, which means returning the ham to the refrigerator between applications. Thin coats build an even gloss; one thick coat sags and dulls.
- "Not too dark"Over-reduced glaze goes very dark and can taste bitter. The recipe's own test is consistency: reduce only until the stock is as thick as syrup.
- Paste brushA paste brush was a soft, wide bristle brush for pastry and glazing work. Any soft silicone or natural-bristle pastry brush will do; avoid stiff bristles, which leave tracks in the setting jelly.
- Removing the rindThe recipe directs you to take hold at the thick end; it does not say why. Leaving an even layer of fat behind gives the glaze a smoother surface to sit on.
Glazing was one of the display techniques of Victorian cold-table cookery, where a decorated ham, tongue or galantine stood on the buffet as much to be looked at as eaten. The glaze itself is stock reduced to the point where it sets hard — a glace de viande — a preparation generally traced to French professional kitchens and carried into British households through the great nineteenth-century cookery manuals. Cassell's treats it as a cross-reference ("see GLAZE"), pointing to its own separate entry where the preparation is explained. The modern sense of a glazed ham, sweet and lacquered and served hot, belongs to a different tradition; the older meaning survives mainly in the aspic-coated hams of charcuterie counters and competition cookery.