No. 2597

Terrine of Kernel of Ham

Terrine de Noix de Jambon

Raise the kernel from a fresh ham; suppress the rind and lard with large lardons (No. 1, Fig. 52), seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg and parsley. Put it in a vessel with carrots, minced onions, a garnished bunch of parsley (No. 123), salt, pepper and Madeira wine; let macerate for fortyeight hours in a cool place, turning it over frequently. Cover the bottom and sides of a terrine that can stand the oven with chopped forcemeat (No. 68); lay the kernel in the center, cover with more forcemeat and the whole with bards of fat pork; put on the lid and place the terrine in a deep baking tin containing water; push into a slack oven for three hours; remove, place a round of wood fitting the inside of the terrine over and a light weight on top; when cold, remove this round of wood and cover the surface with chopped jelly; then serve.

← No. 2596 Terrine of Ducks' Liver a l'Aquitaine Garnishings for Cold Dishes No. 2598 Terrine of Hare →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's terrine is a straightforward pressed pork loaf, but almost every term in it belongs to a professional French kitchen of the 1890s. Translating the parts is most of the work.

"Kernel of ham" (noix de jambon)The noix is the rounded cushion of muscle on the inner side of the leg, closest to the modern top round. A fresh ham means an uncured, unsmoked pork leg. Ask a butcher for a boneless leg cushion of 3 to 4 lb, trimmed of rind.
A slack ovenRoughly 250 to 300F; the book gives no figure, and the water bath holds the terrine below whatever the oven is doing. Three hours should bring a 3 to 4 lb piece to at least 160F at the center, but a probe thermometer is the only reliable check, since the loaf is buried in forcemeat.
The bain-marie is not optionalThe deep tin of water is what keeps the forcemeat from breaking and weeping fat. Keep the water at least halfway up the terrine and top it up with boiling water if it drops.
LardingThe reference is to the book's own larding illustration, calling for the largest grade of lardon: strips of pork back fat drawn through the muscle with a larding needle. A fresh leg cushion is lean and will read dry without it; if you have no needle, pierce with a thin knife and push seasoned fat strips through with the handle of a wooden spoon.
Forcemeat No. 68Ranhofer's chopped forcemeat is a seasoned raw pork forcemeat of lean and fat pork. Any well-seasoned pâté farce of roughly two parts lean pork to one part fat pork works in its place.
Bards of fat porkThin sheets of pork back fat laid over the top to seal the surface. Sliced fatback or caul fat does the job; unsmoked streaky bacon is a compromise and will add cure flavor.
The 48-hour maceration"A cool place" meant a larder at perhaps 50F. Do it in the refrigerator, in a covered non-reactive dish, turning the meat twice a day.
Pressing and the jellyThe weighted wooden round compacts the terrine as it cools so it slices cleanly; a foil-wrapped board with a couple of cans on top serves. The "chopped jelly" is set aspic or clarified pork stock, chilled firm and chopped to a glitter, spooned over the surface just before serving.
Yield and serviceA 3 to 4 lb kernel in forcemeat gives a terrine for 12 to 16 as a cold first course. Chill at least 24 hours before slicing, and serve within three or four days.

A Little History

Noix is the butcher's word for the cushion of the leg, the same cut French charcutiers still reserve for the best cooked hams, and taking it from a fresh leg rather than a cured one is what makes this a terrine instead of a ham. Ranhofer filed it among garnishings for cold dishes, alongside his terrines of duck liver and hare. The method itself — lard, macerate in wine and aromatics, line a lidded earthenware pot with forcemeat, seal with fat, cook slowly in a water bath, then weight it — is the standard charcuterie sequence of the period, and the earthenware pot is the reason the dish is called a terrine at all.