Home › Entrees and Made-Over Dishes › Minced Ham in Cider Cups
Minced Ham in Cider Cups
1 cup boiled ham 3 hard-cooked eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt Pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 3 tablespoons lemon-juice 1/2 cup celery 1/2 package or two tablespoons gelatin 1/2 cup cold water 2 cups cider 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup whipped cream Soak gelatin in cold water, and pour over it boiling cider to which the sugar and lemon have been added. Strain into border molds. When firm, remove from the molds and fill with the mixture made of the other ingredients and serve immediately.
A jellied sweet-cider ring filled with a chopped ham salad — a typical late-1920s use for the end of a boiled ham. The two halves are made separately and only meet at the table.
- Gelatin quantityHousehold gelatin packages of the period are usually reckoned at about four tablespoons, which is what this recipe's own "half a package or two tablespoons" implies. A modern envelope is 1/4 oz, about 2 1/4 teaspoons, so two and a half to three envelopes covers the two tablespoons called for, setting the 2 1/2 cups of water and cider. That gives a firm unmolding jelly, not a soft spooning one.
- Which ciderIn American books of this date, cider means sweet unfermented apple cider. Hard cider will still set but the sugar and boiling will drive off most of its character.
- Where the lemon goesThe lemon-juice appears in the list beside the ham and celery, but the method adds it to the hot cider with the sugar. Put it in the cider; if the ham mixture tastes flat, a little extra squeezed into the filling does no harm.
- Do not boil the gelatinSoften the gelatin in the cold water until spongy, then pour the boiling sweetened cider over it and stir until fully dissolved. Gelatin held at a hard boil loses setting power.
- Border moldsA border mold is a ring mold. The 2 1/2 cups of jelly will fill six small individual rings of a scant 1/2 cup each, or a single ring mold of about 2 1/2 to 3 cups. Rinse them with cold water before filling to help release.
- Chilling timeThe recipe gives none. Allow several hours in the refrigerator, or overnight; the acid from the cider and lemon may soften or slow the set a little.
- The fillingChop the ham, eggs and celery fine, season, then fold in the whipped cream last and lightly. It should hold its shape in the ring without weeping.
- Heat levelA quarter teaspoon of cayenne on top of black pepper is assertive against a sweetened cider jelly. Start with an eighth if you want the ham to read first.
- Serve immediatelyThe direction is probably practical rather than decorative: once the cream-bound filling sits in the jelly, the jelly's surface is likely to soften and the cream to loosen. Fill the rings as they go to the table.
- YieldThe recipe gives none; the quantity of jelly suggests about six individual molds, enough for a light luncheon course.
Powdered gelatin had become cheap and reliable by the 1920s, and jellied rings filled with a creamed or chopped mixture were a common device of the period: they stretched a cup of meat into a course, needed no oven, and looked deliberate. Sweet cider as the jelly base is a seasonal touch, tying the dish to autumn ham and the apple press, and the sugar-and-lemon treatment fits a period taste for pairing salted meat with something frankly sweet -- the same instinct behind ham with spiced peaches or raisin sauce.