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Ham Muffins
Divide some muffins, and spread them with fresh butter and a thin layer of made mustard. Put over this a spoonful of chopped ham that has been heated in thick brown sauce made piquant by the addition of chutney or hot pickles. Toast on both sides, and allow to get cold, or if preferred they may be eaten hot.
A late-Victorian savoury: a hot-mustard-and-ham spread on split muffins, served at the end of dinner or on a cold buffet. The instructions assume you already have brown sauce on hand, which is the only real obstacle.
- "Muffins" means English muffinsNot the American cupcake-style muffin. Use split yeast-risen English muffins, which have the open crumb needed to hold the sauce.
- Made mustard"Made" simply means mixed, i.e. prepared mustard rather than dry powder. English mustard from a jar is the intended flavour; use it thinly, since it is doing the same work as the chutney.
- Thick brown sauceThis is kitchen espagnole or a reduced demi-glace, not bottled brown sauce in the modern British sense. A few tablespoons of well-reduced beef stock thickened with a brown roux gives the right consistency: it should coat the ham, not run off it.
- QuantitiesThe only measure given is "a spoonful of chopped ham" per muffin, with no amount for the sauce. If you want a firmer guide, about 2 oz (55 g) chopped cooked ham and 2 tablespoons of sauce will fill four halves generously, though that is more generous than the original "spoonful".
- The hinge: keep the mixture stiffThe ham must be bound in sauce thick enough to sit still while the muffin is grilled. Thin sauce soaks the crumb and the whole thing collapses when lifted.
- "Toast on both sides"Do this under a hot grill or salamander rather than in a toaster. As written, the muffin is spread and filled first and then toasted on both sides; if you prefer, the cut side can be toasted before filling, but that is a departure from the text. Timing is not given - go by colour.
- Hot or coldThe recipe leaves the choice open. Cold, it would suit a tea table or a packed luncheon; hot, it would serve as a savoury. Cold versions are better if the sauce is on the stiff side, since it sets as it cools.
- YieldNot stated; the recipe says only "some muffins." Two whole muffins, split, would make four savoury-sized portions.
The savoury course - a small, sharply seasoned mouthful served after the sweet and before dessert - was a fixture of British dinner in the second half of the nineteenth century, and Cassell's is full of these little constructions built on toast, croûtes or split muffins. Ham with mustard and a piquant brown sauce is a thrifty version of the type, made from a cooked ham and a brown sauce. The addition of chutney or "hot pickles" reflects how thoroughly Anglo-Indian seasonings had settled into British domestic cooking by this date, to the point that a recipe could offer them as a casual alternative to one another. The dish is offered equally hot or cold.