A Todd Ham
Mrs. Beale
Soak forty-eight hours, changing water once or twice. Then put in cold water and let it come to a simmer (don't boil), and simmer slowly for four hours. Then skin and dress with sugar and cracker crumbs, and bake half an hour until well browned.
A country-ham method under a family name: a long soak, a slow simmer, then a sweet crumb crust baked to brown.
- Long soak, then gentle simmerForty-eight hours in changed water tames the heavy cure of an aged country ham; the pointed “don’t boil” matters — hold it at a bare simmer for the four hours so the meat stays tender.
- “Dress with sugar and cracker crumbs”After skinning, pat on a coat of brown sugar and crushed crackers. Cracker crumbs here means finely crushed water crackers or saltines, which brown into a sweet crust.
- The finishing bakeHalf an hour in a hot oven, 425–450°F (220–230°C), caramelizes the sugar-and-crumb crust; watch it, since sugar scorches fast.
- Score for a better crustNot in the original, but scoring the fat in a diamond pattern before crusting helps the coating grip and brown evenly.
- It’s already curedLike other country hams, this is preserved meat — the long simmer is about tenderizing and de-salting, not cooking raw pork through.
Recipes like this traveled under family or place names — a “Todd ham” here, a Smithfield or a household’s own ham elsewhere — each a trusted way with the cured hams that were a mainstay of the Southern larder. The technique is classic American country ham: cure with salt, soak away the excess, simmer slowly, then finish with a sweet crumb or sugar crust in the oven. That crumb coating is an old economical touch, giving a homemade ham the burnished, festive crust that made it fit for company at the center of the table.
From page 20 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
