Home › Squaw Feeds Paleface › Dutch Oven Ham and Potatoes
Dutch Oven Ham and Potatoes
I SLICE UNCOOKED HAM 4 CUPS SLICED RAW POTATOES 1/2 CUP SLICED ONIONS 3 TABLESPOONS FLOUR 2 CUPS WATER I TEASPOON MINCED PARSLEY I CUP SLICED RAW CARROTS 2 CUPS MILK Cut ham into desired number of pieces. Arrange ham, potatoes, onion, parsley, and carrots in layers in a Dutch oven sprinkling flour on each layer. Add milk and water. Cover tightly and simmer 11/2 hours.
If you use a slice of ham 1 inch thick, it will furnish sufficient salt. But if you skimp on ham, salt must be added.
A one-pot layered braise built for a cast-iron Dutch oven over coals, though it works unchanged on a low stovetop burner. The whole thing hinges on the ham: a thick, properly salty slice seasons the entire pot, and a thin one leaves it flat.
- The ham"Uncooked ham" here means a raw cured slice — a ham steak cut about an inch thick, which is the thickness the recipe itself names. Modern supermarket ham steaks are usually sold fully cooked and are often less salty, so taste the liquid at the halfway mark and add salt then rather than at the end.
- Quantities as printedThe list calls for one slice of ham, one teaspoon of minced parsley and one cup of sliced raw carrots. The simmer runs an hour and a half.
- Dutch oven, camp styleDutch oven -- The recipe says only "Dutch oven." If it is the legged outdoor pot with a flanged lid, set it over a shallow bed of coals with a few on top. Indoors, any heavy lidded casserole on the lowest burner setting does the same job; the point is steady, gentle heat and a tight seal so nothing evaporates.
- Flour between the layersSprinkling flour on each layer rather than making a roux means the sauce thickens slowly as the starch hydrates. There is no instruction to stir, and leaving the pot alone keeps the layers intact, though flour added dry this way will not necessarily thicken perfectly smoothly.
- Milk and scorchingTwo cups of milk over direct coals will catch on the bottom if the heat is anywhere near brisk. Keep the pot at a bare shiver, and if you are cooking outdoors, rake most of the coals to the lid and leave only a thin scattering underneath.
- Potatoes and carrotsSlice both about 1/4 inch thick so they finish together. Waxy potatoes hold their layers; russets will break down and thicken the sauce further, which is not a fault but changes the dish.
- Doneness and yieldAfter 1 1/2 hours the potatoes should take a knife with no resistance and the liquid should coat a spoon. Serves four generously as a whole meal, five or six if there is bread and something else on the table.