The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-08
HAM COOKED IN A HAY nOx.
The Danish Housewives Plan and Its
Delicious Results.
From the New York sun.


From the New York sun.
Talk about your Christmas turkey stuff
fed with Eye-talian ehestnuts or Lynn
Haven oysters, all you want TO- said the
transplanted southern colonel, but give
give me a thin slice of southern ham cook
ed as they cook it i'm Virginia or South
Carolina, and you can keep all of your
stuffed BIRDS
Il used to think that you southern peo-
pie knew how to cure and cook hams, TOO,
until l went TO Denmark" answered the
returned traveller, but bless your soul,
your southern ham tastes as tame and
fiat by the side of Denmark ham as aofth-
ern ham does compared with southern.
OF course, a ham has got to be good and
properly cured at the start, bus the big
gest part of a sweet, juicy, tasty ham lies
in me cooking. Now I've been In seven
teen countries and | have never tasted
such ham as l got in Denmark. The near
er the bone the sweeter the meat cannot
often be applied to ham that you strike
in this country, because haif the time the
meat is about half cooked when you get
toward the bone. Now in Denmark you
might carve a hundred hams a day and
each one would be done through and
through, and yet they are only allowed to
come to a boil
why, how can they be done, them"
asked the transplanted southern colonePs
transplanted wife Ham Is a thing that
should be boiled for hours and hours over
hot fire. Now, in South Carolina, where
l was born, and in Virginia, where the coll
onel was born, we always put ham on
right after breakfast when we want il
ready for a midday dinner and further
more, the cook keeps little niger busy
keeping up the fire all the time the ham
is on the stove. Ham isn't ham if il isn't
well bOileH bpfora is halya6 -
That's where you and the people in
Denmark disagree" remarked the return
ed traveller. They say emphatically that
I ham is 10 be thoroughly cooked should not
be boiled. How do they cook it? In
hay box. What is a hay box Hay boxes
are used great deal in Denmark. A hay
box is an ordinary wooden box with
lining of hay about a foot thick The hay
is covered with cheese cloth TO keep it i'm
place and for durability. OF course your
| hay box can be of any size, but the yes
sci must fit in il closely; but that is get
ting ahead of my story. When a Danish
housewife wishes to cook n BAN she pre-
pares IL properly about dark and puts It
into a pot of cold water. which she places
over the fire AS soon as the water comes
TO hard boil she lifts the pot from the
fire and puts il into hay box, carefully
covering the top of the box with close
fitting lid. When she gets up in The morn
ing the ham Is thoroughly cooked to the
| bone. Win the water boil in The hay box?
Oh, no! But il keeps al the same temper
azure all night ana an even temperature
is the secret of perfect cooking. The water
is just hot when she gets up In the
morning as when she goes 70 bed Ct night
the ham is done, and she doesn't have to
worry her head as to whether il will he
done to the bone by dinner time; and. best
of all, she never has 40 send Il 10 the
kitchen to be cooked over. A. ham cooked
in this way retains all the juice and sweet
ness, and fairly makes your mouth water
to think of it,"
TRY this hot water ioddy az a substi-
tute," suggested the transp'anted south
ern colonel, and the returned traveller
Smoked his lips as he took the steaming
| ass.
Those Danish hay boxes, Madam COL
onel," he went on, "are great things. Such
a thing as running water is unknown in
the houses OF Denmark. bur, by George
! the people over there seem TO be more
/ flush with hot water than we are with all
our boilers, coal ranges, and miles of hot
| water pipes. In the cupboard of every
washstand in every bedroom, or in the
closet. is a hay box and at every hour
in 'he day or night you can find vessel
of steaming water there. little enough
| thing in itself, Ell? But It's the little
things chat make life livable. isn't IT,?
| Yes you people down south know how TO
cure and cook hams and you know how
| to do il well, but you yourselves would
| own that you are mere novices at the bus
| mess II you once got a taste of a Danish
ham cooked over night in a hay box"
"Darned If ! would" exclaimed the
transplanted colonel. motioning to his wife
10 mix another hot toddy. And even if
they can beat MS on ham, they can't beat
us when st comes to some other things
that are better" measuring out the whis-
| ky with smile Of complete satisfaction.
-e-e-e-
willie: Mamma, can people leave parts
of themselves !n different places?
NO; don't be ridiculous"