Broiled Ham
To have this dish in a perfection, ham must first be soaked, then boiled nearly done, and set aside to take slices from, as wanted. Cut rather thin, lay on a gridiron over hot coals; when hot through, lay on a dish, and pepper well. Pour over fresh butter melted, and serve. If a raw ham is used, the slices must be cut thicker, dropped in a pan of boiling water or a few minutes, then broiled as above.--Mrs. S. T.
A Virginia country-ham method that assumes a whole salt-cured ham hanging in the pantry. The two versions given — from a part-boiled ham and from raw slices — are really two different dishes, and the first is the better one.
- What kind of ham this is"Ham" here means a dry salt-cured Virginia ham, hard and very salty, not a modern wet-cured supermarket ham. If you use a commercial cooked ham, skip the soaking and boiling entirely and go straight to the gridiron.
- The soak is the hingeAn unsoaked country ham slice is punishingly salty. Soak the whole ham 12 to 24 hours in cold water, changing the water two or three times; for single raw slices, the recipe's brief dip in boiling water draws off some surface salt and starts the cooking.
- "Boiled nearly done"The recipe gives no temperatures. Simmer the soaked ham gently rather than at a hard boil, which tightens the meat, and stop short of fully cooked — roughly 155F internal on a modern thermometer. It finishes cooking on the gridiron slice by slice.
- Storing the part-cooked hamThe original assumes a cold larder and a household that would work through the ham in days. Cool it quickly and keep it refrigerated, treating it as you would any cooked meat: three to four days, or slice and freeze.
- Slice thicknessThe recipe asks only for "rather thin" from the boiled ham (about 1/8 inch works) and thicker for raw slices, say 1/4 to 3/8 inch, so they do not dry out before they cook through — the reason the recipe distinguishes the two.
- Gridiron to broiler or pan"Over hot coals" is direct high heat with the fat dripping away. A cast-iron pan over medium-high heat or a broiler element close to the meat both work; one to two minutes a side is enough, and the fat edge should be lightly crisped rather than hard.
- Pepper, not saltThe recipe seasons with pepper only. Cured ham carries its own salt, so adding more risks making the dish inedible.
- The butter"Fresh butter" means unsalted. Melt it gently so it stays whole rather than browning, and pour it over just before serving.
- YieldTwo thin slices per person as a breakfast dish, alongside eggs, hot biscuits or fried apples.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) was compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by Virginia housewives — the "Mrs. S. T." signature is one of many — and it treats the cured ham as a fixed point of the household year. Salt-curing and smoking hogs in late autumn was a standard way of carrying pork through to the next season, and a Virginia ham was hard, dark and salty enough to demand the treatment described here: long soaking, a slow simmer, then slices taken off as needed. Broiling over coals and dressing the meat with melted butter and pepper is a plain, early way to serve it; the red-eye gravy made from pan drippings and coffee is the better-known dressing today. The instruction to boil the ham first and slice from it "as wanted" tells you as much about the kitchen as the cooking: a cooked ham in the larder was a standing reserve for breakfast.