English Ham with Jelly

If freshly salted and smoked it is unnecessary to soak it; simply wash off in warm water, pare and saw the handle bone short, then put it into a large vessel, cover with cold water and bring this to a boil, adding aromatic herbs; close the lid and leave to boil for three hours slowly, but continuously and regularly. Remove the vessel from the fire and allow the ham to cool off in this liquor. (A ham is cooked when the meat on the handle bone becomes soft.) Drain it off, suppress the thick end bone and a part of the rind, leaving the leg end covered; pare and remove all the upper part to cut up into even slices. Lay the ham on an oval wooden board covered with white paper and fastened on a dish, dress the cut slices in a circle on top of the ham and fill the center with chopped jelly; glaze the rind and the remaining whole piece with a brush and surround the base with a string of thick jelly pushed through a pocket; dress fine triangles of jelly (No. 2442) all around; fasten a jelly-decorated hatelet in the opposite end from the handle, slanting it outward (see drawing, Fig. 501).