Broiled Ham
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 an 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. Sufficient, one pound for two persons.
A breakfast method from the era of dry-salt country ham and an open coal fire. Two things carry over: cut the ham very thin, and give it a soak only if the ham is genuinely salty.
- The soak is about salt, not moistureFifteen minutes in hot water draws down the salt of a hard dry-cured ham. Modern supermarket ham is wet-cured and mild; soaking it only waterlogs the slice. Reserve the soak for country ham, prosciutto ends, or anything that tastes sharply salty raw.
- "Broiled" means over the fireA gridiron sat above clear coals, so this is what we would call grilling. A ridged grill pan or heavy skillet over medium-high heat reproduces it. An overhead broiler also works, though at an eighth of an inch the slices will cook far faster than the five or six minutes the recipe allows -- watch them constantly and turn as soon as the edges crisp.
- "A very clear fire"Clear means burned down to coals with no flame or smoke. Dripping ham fat flares badly over live flame, and a thin slice scorches before the meat is hot through.
- Thickness is the hingeAn eighth of an inch is thin enough that the slice crisps at the edges before the interior dries. Thicker slices from a modern ham steak want lower heat and closer to 3-4 minutes a side, and they will be chewier.
- "Toasted on a fork"Holding the slice on a long fork in front of the fire, turning as it curls. There is no direct modern equivalent beyond a grill pan; the writer's preference may rest on gentle radiant heat suiting a slice this thin, though the recipe itself gives no reason and also allows frying.
- Dry it properlyWhether or not it has been soaked, blot the ham thoroughly. Surface water steams and prevents the browning the recipe is after.
- YieldOne pound for two is a Victorian breakfast portion. Four to six ounces a head is more realistic alongside eggs and toast, so a pound will serve three or four.
Broiled or "toasted" ham was common nineteenth-century breakfast fare on both sides of the Atlantic, in an era when a household with the means might keep a whole cured ham hanging and shave slices from it as needed. The instruction to soak before cooking is the tell: hams were often preserved with far more salt than today, since the cure had to hold the meat through months without refrigeration, and freshening a slice in water before cooking appears in a number of period instructions. The preference for a fork over a gridiron would suit a kitchen built around an open fire, where the cook could judge the heat by holding the meat closer or further from the coals. As wet-curing and mechanical refrigeration spread through the early twentieth century, hams grew milder and wetter, and the soaking step gradually dropped out of the instructions.