Baked Ham
First of all, soak an old ham overnight, having first washed and scraped it. Next morning put in a boiler of milk-warm water with the skin side down. Boil slowly for four or five hours, according to size, and if a very large ham, six hours. When done, set aside, the boiler with the ham and liquor in it, to remain until cold; when the skin must be taken off, and it must be trimmed of a nice shape. Sprinkle over two tablespoonfuls black pepper. Lay the ham on a grating or twist in the baking-pan, in which pour a pint of water, and set it in a hot oven. This mode prevents the frying so disagreeable to the taste. After the ham is heated through, and the pepper strikes in, sift over cracker; return to the oven and brown, then decorate with scraped horseradish and parsley, and serve.--Mrs. S. T.
This is a dry-cured Virginia country ham, not a supermarket city ham, and nearly every step assumes that. Read the salt and the cooling instructions before you start.
- What "an old ham" meansA salt-cured, smoked, air-aged country ham, hard and often bloomed with harmless surface mold, which is what the washing and scraping addresses. A wet-cured, ready-to-eat supermarket ham needs none of this treatment and will fall apart if boiled for hours.
- Soaking is not optionalAn aged country ham can carry enough salt to be inedible straight off. Overnight is the old minimum; 24 to 36 hours in cold water, changed two or three times, suits most hams sold today. Soak in the refrigerator or a cold cellar, not on the counter.
- Milk-warm and "boil slowly"Milk-warm is blood heat, roughly 95-100F. "Boil slowly" means a bare simmer at 180-190F; a true rolling boil for five hours will shred the meat and toughen the muscle fibers. Cook to an internal temperature of 160F at the thickest point rather than by the clock.
- Do not cool it overnight in the potLeaving a 12 lb ham in warm liquor to cool at room temperature holds the center in the bacterial danger zone for many hours. Lift it out, let it cool no more than an hour, and refrigerate. Cure and salt make country ham resilient, but this step is the one piece of the method modern practice has abandoned outright.
- Grating or twistA rack, or a coil of twisted cloth or metal, to hold the ham off the bottom of the pan. Any roasting rack does the job, and the pint of water beneath it is what keeps the drippings from scorching "the frying so disagreeable to the taste."
- A hot ovenPeriod cookbooks give no numbers, and 'hot oven' is only loosely equivalent to a modern high setting around 400F. The ham is already cooked through; the oven stage is only to warm it, drive in the pepper, and set the crumb crust. Judge it by color rather than by the clock.
- Sift over crackerFine cracker crumbs, sifted so only the powder lands on the fat. Hard crackers or biscuit pounded and sieved would answer; unsalted saltines or plain water crackers pulsed fine are the closest thing now. This recipe calls for no sugar.
- Yield and carvingA country ham of 12 to 14 lb will stretch a long way, since it is sliced paper-thin and eaten in small quantity. Carve at a shallow angle against the grain, and keep the trimmings and bone for greens or beans.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and first published in 1879, drew on some 250 Virginia contributors, which is why so many entries end with a set of initials rather than a name. Baked ham of this kind was a familiar centerpiece of the Virginia sideboard: a dry-cured, smoked hind leg aged at length, boiled to draw out salt and soften the meat, then finished in the oven for color and crust. Boiling first and baking on a rack over water is one common way of handling a hard-cured ham, and similar handling still governs country hams from Smithfield and the surrounding counties. The instruction to keep the drippings from frying, and the finishing touch of scraped horseradish and parsley, suggest a dish meant to be sliced cold and thin rather than served hot in wedges.