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Various Recipes
To boil a York Ham.* To choose a ham: select one with a smooth thin skin and a neat plump shape, not too long.
Run a skewer down the knuckle by the bone and it should smell sweet and savoury, not strong or rancid; it should not be too hard, but be elastic to the touch. Having selected your ham, saw off the knuckle-bone quite close, soak it for twentyfour hours in cold water, scrape it clean from dirt and slime, and put it on in cold water to boil with plenty of fat in the water; let it simmer steadily for three hours, and allow it to get cold in the water. Take it up, remove the rind, trim the surface of the fat smoothly with a knife; put it on a baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes, then dab it with a clean cloth to absorb the grease. Take a paste-brush and paint it all over with glaze; when thoroughly cold, garnish with chopped aspic jelly. Instead of glazing the ham you can * A ham of 12 to 14 lbs. weight takes six hours to cook. sprinkle raspings all over it. If the ham is to be eaten hot, it must be skinned, put in the oven, covered with buttered paper to get hot through, for about half an hour, then glaze it, and garnish with green peas, or Brussels sprouts, spinach, etc.
To boil an Ox Tongue.
A pickled tongue should be soaked for two or three hours in cold water. Then put it on to boil in cold water with a bunch of savoury herbs. Let it come slowly to the boil, skim it well, and let it boil slowly for about four hours. When done, take it up, plunge it into cold water so that you can skin it easily: this must be done carefully, especially at the tip of the tongue. When skinned, set the tongue with the root end against a board or a wall, stick a dishing-up fork through the root into a board, stick another fork in front of the tip of the tongue, to get it into a good shape so that it will stand well; when quite cold trim off the root and glaze it, put a rouche round the root, garnish with parsley, and serve. If to be eaten hot, it must be wrapped up in buttered paper and made hot in boiling water for a quarter of an hour, then glazed and garnished with tufts of cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, and served with tomato, piquante, or poivrade sauce.
Two set-pieces of the Victorian cold table, both worked the same way: a long, gentle simmer, then dressing for display. The instructions assume a larder, a stock pot of glaze and a cook who has done it before.
- Read the footnote firstThe body of the text says three hours; the asterisked note says a 12–14 lb ham takes six. The three-hour figure suits a small half-ham of 5–6 lb at most. Judge by temperature rather than the clock: a whole cured ham is done at 160F/71C at the thickest point, away from the bone.
- Soaking is optional nowThe 24-hour soak was needed because Victorian dry-cured hams carried far more salt than anything sold today. A modern gammon or cured ham usually needs an hour at most, and many need none. If you are unsure, cut a sliver, fry it and taste.
- "Plenty of fat in the water"Not an error, though the recipe gives no reason for it. Fat on the surface of the water may help steady the simmer and slow evaporation from the exposed top of the joint; whatever the intent, it can be skipped if the ham is fully submerged.
- Cooling in the liquidThis is the hinge for the cold version. A ham lifted out hot will contract and dry; left to cool in its own liquor it stays moist and slices cleanly. Cool it to room temperature, then refrigerate — do not leave a large joint standing out overnight.
- Glaze, raspings, rouche"Glaze" here is meat glaze: strong stock reduced to a syrup that sets to a brown gloss, not a sugar glaze. "Raspings" are dried breadcrumbs browned and sieved fine. A "rouche" (ruche) is the frilled paper collar for the bone or root end.
- Oven stepsThe recipe gives no oven temperature; the oven is used only to dry the surface and to reheat. A moderate modern oven, around 350F/175C, will serve for both -- a few minutes to set the fat before glazing, and about half an hour under buttered paper (foil works) for a joint served hot.
- Pickled tongue is not what you will buy"Pickled" means brine-cured, and such a tongue is pink and salty. Fresh ox tongue is now easier to find than pickled; it needs no soaking and benefits from salt in the cooking water. Four hours' slow simmer suits either; the skin should peel off in one piece while the tongue is still warm from the pot.
- Skinning and shapingSkin the tongue as soon as it is cool enough to handle — once cold the membrane grips and tears, especially at the tip. The business with two forks and a board is simply pressing it into a curved standing shape to set as it chills; a small bowl or tongue press does the same job.
- YieldA 12-14 lb ham serves upwards of thirty cold, and will keep several days well wrapped in the refrigerator. An ox tongue of 3-4 lb gives about twelve servings sliced thin.
York ham is a dry-salt cure, mild and long-matured, cut with the leg bone left long, and distinct from the sweeter, treacle-cured Bradenham or the smoky Westphalian. The elaborate finishing here, glaze brushed on with a paste-brush, chopped aspic scattered round, a paper ruche at the knuckle, belongs to the buffet of a large Victorian household, where cold ham and cold tongue stood at either end of the table through a long evening and were expected to look architectural. Ox tongue earned its place for the same reason: brine-cured, pressed and glazed, it slices into neat rounds and holds its shape for days. The sauces suggested for the hot tongue -- piquante and poivrade, both sharp, vinegar-based sauces of the classical French repertoire -- are there to cut the richness.