(1791). Ham With Spinach - Boiled (Jambon Bouilli Aux Epinards)

Take a fine freshly salted, smoked ham. pare the meats also the fat. which should be exceedingly white; suppress the hip bone, saw off the knuckle bone and then unsalt the ham in a plentiful supply of water for twenty-four hours. If it should have been dried and salted for some tunc prior to the day of using, then it will require thirty-six hours of unsalting. Wash, drain and tie it in a towel. Five hours before serving lay it in a large braziere or 30up pot with four times its volume of cold water, adding four quartered carrots, two onions containing six cloves, a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme, bay leaf, basil and mace, then let it boil and simmer slowly for four hours more or less, according to the weight and size of the ham. calculating a quarter of an hour for each pound. To be assured that it is properly cooked, run the tip of a skewer into the flesh and if it can be withdrawn at once the ham is sufficiently done. Remove the braziere or pot from the fire half an hour before serving; drain the ham on a dish, take off the towel and pare the rind and fat tastefully; clean the handle bone thoroughly cutting off the meat for about two and a half inches from the end, then set it in the oven to dry the surface.

Garnish the top of the fat with a thin layer of quenelle forcemeat (No. 92), containing lobster butter, and arrange in the center of this a fanciful decoration of pistachioes, truffles, etc., cover with buttered paper. Set the ham in the oven to poach the forcemeat, or if preferred glazed, then replace it by a glaze made by besprinkling the fat with sugar and glazing it of a fine reddish color. Dress the ham on a garnishing of spinach (No. 2821), trim the handle with a frill (No. 10) and lay around some triangle-shaped croutons fried in butter; serve with a Madeira sauce (No. 492). Instead of chopped spinach, English spinach (No. 2823) may be used. Serve a half-glaze sauce (No. 413,) separately.

(1792). Virginia Ham With Stringed Eggs (Jambon De Virginie Aux Oeufs Files)

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 surfaceevenlj. 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.