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Ham Sausage
Mince about half a pound of ham very finely, both fat and lean, with one-third the quantity of fine bread-crumbs, an onion, and plenty of pepper. Add two beaten eggs, mix all well together, and tie in a pudding cloth like a roly-poly pudding. Boil slowly for one hour, and when cold turn out of the cloth, glaze, and garnish with parsley.
A cold-table dish rather than a true sausage: a bound ham forcemeat poached in a cloth and sliced when set. The hinge is the binding — two eggs and a modest amount of crumb are all that hold it, so the mince must be fine and the roll tied tightly with no air pockets.
- QuantitiesHalf a pound of ham is about 225 g; one-third that quantity of breadcrumbs is roughly 75 g if the proportion is read by weight, though the recipe does not say whether it means weight or volume. The whole makes one small roll, enough for a few cold-table portions or a plate of sandwiches.
- "Fine bread-crumbs"The phrase was used in this period both for fresh crumbs rubbed from the crumb of a stale loaf and for dried, sieved raspings; the recipe does not say which. Dry crumbs absorb more liquid and can leave the mixture stiff and mealy, so if you use them, use less.
- The onionRaw onion in a one-hour poach stays assertive and slightly sharp. Grate it rather than chop, or sweat it in butter first and cool it before mixing, which is closer to modern forcemeat practice.
- SaltNo salt is called for, and none should be added until you have tasted the ham. Cured ham carries the seasoning; pepper is the only correction the recipe asks for and it wants a generous hand.
- The pudding clothA clean square of muslin or a doubled cotton cloth, scalded, wrung out and floured on the inside. Shape the mixture into a cylinder, roll it up, and tie both ends and the centre so it cannot swell loose. A double layer of oiled parchment inside a foil sheet, twisted at the ends, does the same job with less fuss.
- "Boil slowly"A bare simmer, around 180-190F, with the roll fully submerged. A hard boil forces the egg to set too fast and the roll turns spongy and weeps. An hour is right for a roll of this size; the centre should reach 165F.
- Cooling and "glaze"It must cool completely in the cloth, ideally weighted under a plate overnight, or it will crumble when cut. To glaze in the period sense is to brush the cold surface with a thin coat of nearly set aspic or meat jelly, which gives the shine and keeps the cut surface from drying.
- KeepingCooked ham, egg and crumb with no preservative beyond the cure: treat it as a fresh pâté, keep it covered in the refrigerator and eat it within three days.
This is the kind of dish that could be sliced and set out cold for breakfast, luncheon or a supper tray. It is called a sausage only because of its shape; there is no casing, and the pudding cloth tied "like a roly-poly" is borrowed straight from the English boiled-pudding tradition. The instruction to glaze and garnish with parsley belongs to the same period's fondness for presenting cold meats as though they had come from a much grander kitchen, aspic and green sprigs doing the work of expense.