Roast Ham
Boil the ham whole and when it is done, let it lie in the water until cold; then skin it, put in a pan, roll in egg and bread crumbs, and put in the oven to roast; when done, put on a platter, garnish the bone end with a paper frill or a vegetable cut like a rose and serve with champagne sauce.
A two-stage treatment for a whole cured ham: simmered first, then crumbed and browned in the oven. The instructions assume a cook who already knows how to boil a ham, so the useful detail is in the timings and in what "roast" means here.
- The hinge: cool it in its own liquidLetting the ham sit in the water until cold is what keeps it moist. Lift it out hot and the meat tightens and dries, and the crumb coating will sit on something stringy. Plan on this being an overnight step, and refrigerate the pot once it is no longer steaming rather than leaving it out all night.
- Ham typeThis means a whole bone-in dry-cured or brine-cured ham with skin on, of the sort that needs soaking and long simmering, not a modern supermarket ham that is already fully cooked and skinless. A 12-15 lb ham simmers roughly 18-20 minutes per pound at a bare tremble; a spiral-cut cooked ham needs none of this and would fall apart.
- Internal temperatureThe original relies on the cook's judgement. Simmer until the thickest part reaches 150-160F and the bone feels loose; the oven stage then only browns the crust.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given, as was usual in recipes written before thermostatted ovens. A hot oven, 400-425F for 20-30 minutes, sets the crumbs and colours them without drying the meat. A moderate 350F works but takes longer and gives a paler crust.
- "Roll in egg and bread crumbs"On a whole ham this means brushing beaten egg over the trimmed fat and patting on dry crumbs, not dredging. Two eggs and about two cups of fine dry crumbs will cover a large ham. Scoring the fat first helps the coating grip, and a little brown sugar or mustard mixed into the crumbs is entirely in keeping.
- Champagne saucePresumably given elsewhere in the book: a light brown or veloute-style sauce finished with dry sparkling wine and often a little ham glaze. Any dry white wine gives much the same effect; a Madeira or cider sauce is a reasonable substitute.
- Garnish and yieldThe paper frill covers the sawn bone end and is still sold for the purpose. A ham this size serves 20 or more.
Boiling a ham and then finishing it in the oven under a crust of crumbs was standard practice in English and American kitchens through the nineteenth century, and it survives in the glazed baked hams of modern holiday tables. The two stages do different jobs: the long simmer tames the salt of a heavily cured ham and cooks it through, while the brief roast supplies the browned exterior that boiling cannot. The champagne sauce and the paper frill mark this as a company dish, meant for formal service, complete with garnishes cut to look like roses. Whole hams were a practical centrepiece as much as a showy one, since a cured leg kept well and could be carved cold for a week of suppers.