Ham Relish
Cut a slice of dressed ham, season it highly with cayenne pepper and broil it brown; then spread mustard over it, squeeze on it a little lemon juice, and serve quickly.
A one-slice savoury that takes about five minutes. The whole point is contrast: heat from the cayenne, sharpness from mustard and lemon, against the salt and fat of the ham.
- "Dressed ham"This means ham already cooked and ready to eat, not raw. A thick slice cut from a cooked bone-in ham is ideal; supermarket deli ham is too thin and will curl and dry out. Aim for a slice a quarter to a third of an inch thick.
- BroilingIn 1879 this meant a gridiron over coals. Use a preheated broiler with the rack close to the element, or a dry cast-iron pan over high heat. Two to three minutes a side is enough to brown the edges and render some fat; longer and cured ham turns leathery.
- CayenneThe recipe says "highly," but cayenne is fierce and a quarter teaspoon over one slice is already assertive; start there and adjust. Apply it before broiling, as the recipe directs, so it cooks into the fat.
- The mustardIn this period mustard was often mixed fresh from dry powder with water or vinegar shortly before use, though bottled prepared mustard was also available. Prepared English mustard is the closest match; a smooth Dijon works. Avoid sweetened yellow ballpark mustard, which flattens the dish.
- Order of operationsMustard and lemon go on after the ham leaves the heat, as the recipe specifies. Mustard's pungency is volatile and cooks off, and lemon juice loses its freshness when heated.
- ServingOne slice serves one as a breakfast dish or a savoury course, on toast or with hot buttered biscuits. "Serve quickly" points to eating it hot, while the mustard and lemon are still sharp.
- SaltNo salt is called for, and none should be added. Country ham of the sort this book assumes is heavily salt-cured.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by Virginia housewives, devotes considerable space to ham because Virginia ham was the household's most valuable preserved meat — dry-salted, smoked, and hung to age, then drawn on in slices for months. A relish in this sense is not a condiment in a jar but a small, sharply flavoured dish meant to whet the appetite, a usage close to that of the British "savoury" served at the end of dinner. The combination of broiled cured pork with mustard and lemon appears across English cookery of the period in devilled dishes generally; "to devil" generally meant seasoning with cayenne and mustard, often applied to something already cooked, and it was one common way of making yesterday's meat worth eating again.