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Ham Loaf
1½ lbs. ground raw ham 2 T hot water ¼ t pepper 1 egg 1 C bread crumbs (not too dry) 1/2 C chili sauce Mix thoroughly. Place three hard boiled eggs, lengthwise, in center of loaf. Mold. Sprinkle bread crumbs over top of loaf and bake for 30 minutes.
Mrs. H. E. Gaddis.
A compact luncheon loaf typical of church-supper cookery, written for a cook who already knew what temperature her oven ran and how long a meat loaf takes. Two of those omissions need filling in.
- The oven temperatureNone is given. A ham loaf of this size wants a moderate oven, 350F. Hotter and the exterior sets and dries before the centre is safe.
- Thirty minutes is not enoughThirty minutes is likely not enough -- a half-hour at moderate heat will not reliably carry a loaf of raw ground ham through. Reckon on something closer to an hour at 350F and check with a thermometer: the meat should read 160F at the thickest point, taking the reading away from the hard-boiled eggs.
- "14 t pepper"A transcription artefact for ¼ teaspoon. That is the sensible reading; a full teaspoon in a pound and a half of already-salty ham would be aggressive but not impossible.
- Ground raw hamThis means uncooked cured ham, ground by the butcher, not fresh pork leg. It is worth asking for specifically; many modern ham loaf recipes cut it half-and-half with ground pork shoulder, which keeps the loaf from being relentlessly salty and firm. Do not add salt.
- Chili sauceIn 1900s American usage this is a thick, sweet-sour tomato relish with onion and vinegar, closer to a chunky ketchup than to anything hot. A bottled chili sauce of the Heinz type is the direct descendant; ketchup with a spoonful of vinegar and a pinch of allspice stands in.
- Bread crumbs "not too dry"Soft crumbs from day-old bread, not the sandy dried kind. Dry crumbs will absorb the liquid and give a tight, pasty loaf; if that is all you have, use rather less and a little more water.
- The eggs in the centreLay the three peeled eggs end to end down the middle so every slice shows a yellow round. Build a bed of the mixture in the pan first, seat the eggs, then pack the rest firmly around them so no air pockets form.
- Yield and servingServes about five or six. It is as good cold and sliced thin the next day as it is hot.
Ham loaf is a thrifty dish, often associated with both Midwestern and Pennsylvania Dutch cookery: it grew out of the need to use the trimmings and end pieces from a cured ham, which the butcher would grind. Chili sauce, the bottled sweet-and-sour tomato condiment that appears in this recipe, was a fixture of American pantries, and it does double duty as moisture and seasoning. The hard-boiled eggs laid lengthwise through the centre belong to a much older European habit of hiding eggs in a meat forcemeat so that the cut face makes a pattern, seen in raised gala pies and in Scotch eggs. The recipe is signed by a contributor, 'Mrs. H. E. Gaddis', which shows only that contributions to the book were credited.