Virginia Ham with Stringed Eggs (jambon de Virginie aux

This dish is a favorite one among Spanish people. Select the ham from a young pig, pare and cook it the same as the boiled ham with spinach (No. 1791); when done, drain and cut off the rind, pare the upper surface evenly, and wipe the fat over with a cloth, besprinkle with a thin layer of powdered sugar and glaze it either under a salamander (Fig. 123) or in a very hot oven. Trim the handle with a frill (No. 10) and dress on a low, carved rice socle, placed on a long dish. Break sixteen fresh eggs, place the yolks in a bowl and pound them without beating, then rub them through a strainer, and to poach them resemble coarse vermicelli; for this result it is necessary to have an oblong, wide-mouthed strainer, its aperture being six inches long by three wide and two inches and a half deep; the bottom must be furnished with six tin tubes shaped like a socket, having an opening at the bottom an eighth of an inch or less wide and soldered on the outside. Have a sugar pan of sufficient size and half full of twelve degrees hot syrup; keep the strainer on top of this boiling syrup, and pour the strained eggs into it, letting them fall through into the syrup; as quickly as they harden lift them out and spread in a sieve dampened with water, so that these strings do not adhere to one another, then dress them around the ham. Madeira sauce (No. 492) may be served separately.