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Baked Ham with Glazed Apricots
1 slice ham, 3/4 inch thick 2 cups milk 1 can apricots whole cloves Put ham in a round casserole, cover with milk and bake 45 minutes. Heat apricots in their syrup (dried apricots, soaked and heated in thick syrup, are satisfactory). Stick cloves in edges of ham, cover with heated apricots and bake for 45 minutes. The apricots will brown and caramelize slightly, adding a new flavor to the dish. Serves 6.
A milk-braised ham steak with a fruit glaze, written for a cook who was expected to know her own oven. The two omissions worth filling in are the temperature and the size of the ham.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. The recipe names no oven setting; a moderate oven of about 350F is a reasonable modern default for a dish of this kind, though the book itself does not say so. At that heat the milk should reduce gently rather than scorch, but watch it, as it will simmer and can boil up the sides.
- "Casserole" hereIn a book of this period the word usually means a baking dish rather than a covered dutch oven or a layered casserole in the modern sense. A 9- or 10-inch round baking dish will hold the ham with two cups of milk around it; the recipe does not say whether to cover it.
- Size of the hamTo serve six you need a center-cut slice of about 2 to 2 1/2 lb, which at 3/4 inch thick means a slice roughly 10 inches across. A supermarket ham steak of 12 oz will not stretch past two people; ask the counter to cut a full center slice.
- Ham is already cured and cookedModern city hams come fully cooked, so the 90 minutes total is about flavor and texture, not doneness. If your slice is a lean, mild, wet-cured one, cut the first stage to 25 or 30 minutes and go straight on to the glaze, or it will dry out.
- The milkThe milk braise is the point of the dish: it softens a salty country cure and leaves a light savory pan liquid. Spoon most of it off before adding the apricots so the fruit syrup can caramelize instead of poaching. The reserved milk, whisked with the browned bits, makes a serviceable sauce.
- The apricots"1 can" in this period would most often be a No. 2 1/2 can, about 29 oz, in heavy syrup, though smaller sizes were sold. Drain the fruit before it goes on the ham so the clinging syrup browns rather than poaches. If using dried apricots, soak until plump and simmer briefly in syrup -- the recipe specifies a thick one.
- ClovesWhole cloves pushed into the fat edge are strong. Six to eight around a large slice is plenty, and remove them before serving rather than leaving them for someone to bite.
- Watching the second stageSugar on the surface of a hot dish goes from caramel to bitter quickly. Check at 30 minutes; the fruit should be glossy and edged with brown, not dark.