ROASTED HAM
Let your ham soak all night in cold water, and then trim it handsomely, having first taken out the bone by loosening the meat all round it, with the point of a knife. Tie a broad tape round the ham to keep it in shape. Then put it into a large pan with some sliced onions, some sprigs of parsley, two or three laurel leaves, and a bottle of white wine. Cover it, and let it lie in the seasoning twenty-four hours. Then roast it, and baste it with the seasoning. A large ham will require four or five hours to roast. A little before it is done, take off the skin and sprinkle the ham with grated bread crumbs.
While the ham is roasting, stew together the bone and the trimmings and scraps till they come to a jelly, which you must strain through a sieve. When you take the ham from the spit (having removed the tape that has been fastened round it) glaze it all over with the jelly, laid on with a brush or a quill feather. Serve it up with the seasoning or marinade under it.
If the ham is to be eaten cold, you may cover it all over the glazing with cold boiled potatoes grated finely, so that it will look like a large cake covered with icing. Ornament it with slices of boiled carrot, beets, &c. scolloped and laid on the potatoes, in handsome forms, so as to look like red and yellow flowering. Stick a large bunch of double parsley in the centre.
A ham boiled in the usual manner may be ornamented in the same way; first extracting the bone, and making the meat into a circular shape.
Instead of a mere bunch of double parsley, you may stick in the centre of the ham a nosegay of flowers, formed of different culinary vegetables, and cut into proper shape with a sharp pen-knife. All these vegetables must be raw. The flowers intended to represent red roses must be made of beets, the white roses of turnips, and the marigolds or other deep yellow flowers must be cut out of carrots. The pieces of turnips and beets must first be made with the pen-knife into the form of a ball, on the surface of which the rose-leaves must be cut. The carrots may be cut into flat slices, and then notched to look like marigolds or chrysanthemums. Stick each flower on the end of a small wooden skewer, which will answer for the stalk, but which must be concealed by thick bunches of double parsley tied on so as to represent the green leaves. Tie all the skewers together at the bottom with a pack-thread, and the whole will have the effect of a handsome nosegay when placed in the middle of the ham.
A round of cold à-la-mode beef may be ornamented with a bunch of these flowers. Let the beef itself be covered all over with parsley, so as to resemble a green bank.
While the ham is roasting, stew together the bone and the trimmings and scraps till they come to a jelly, which you must strain through a sieve. When you take the ham from the spit (having removed the tape that has been fastened round it) glaze it all over with the jelly, laid on with a brush or a quill feather. Serve it up with the seasoning or marinade under it.
If the ham is to be eaten cold, you may cover it all over the glazing with cold boiled potatoes grated finely, so that it will look like a large cake covered with icing. Ornament it with slices of boiled carrot, beets, &c. scolloped and laid on the potatoes, in handsome forms, so as to look like red and yellow flowering. Stick a large bunch of double parsley in the centre.
A ham boiled in the usual manner may be ornamented in the same way; first extracting the bone, and making the meat into a circular shape.
Instead of a mere bunch of double parsley, you may stick in the centre of the ham a nosegay of flowers, formed of different culinary vegetables, and cut into proper shape with a sharp pen-knife. All these vegetables must be raw. The flowers intended to represent red roses must be made of beets, the white roses of turnips, and the marigolds or other deep yellow flowers must be cut out of carrots. The pieces of turnips and beets must first be made with the pen-knife into the form of a ball, on the surface of which the rose-leaves must be cut. The carrots may be cut into flat slices, and then notched to look like marigolds or chrysanthemums. Stick each flower on the end of a small wooden skewer, which will answer for the stalk, but which must be concealed by thick bunches of double parsley tied on so as to represent the green leaves. Tie all the skewers together at the bottom with a pack-thread, and the whole will have the effect of a handsome nosegay when placed in the middle of the ham.
A round of cold à-la-mode beef may be ornamented with a bunch of these flowers. Let the beef itself be covered all over with parsley, so as to resemble a green bank.