Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-01-20
HAM COOKED IN A HAY BOX.

La1h oUOul your turkey Sluueu
with Eye-talian chestnuts or Lynn
Haven oysters, all you want to-,
said the transplanted southern colo
mel, "but say give me a thin slice
of southern ham cooked as they
cook it in Virginia or South Caro-
lima and you can keep all of your
stuffed birds. y
II used to think that you south
ern people knew how to cure and
cook hams, too, until went to Den
mark, answered the returned trav-
eler, ''but, bless your soul, your
southern ham tastes as tame and
flat by the side of Denmark ham as
northern ham does compared with
southern. Of course ham has got
to be good and properly cured at
the start, but the biggest part of
sweet, juicy, tasty ham lies in the
cooking. Now I've been in II coqn-
tries and l have never tasted such
ham as I got in Denmark. The
nearer the bone the sweeter the
meat cannot often be applied to a.
ham that you strike in this country,
because half the time the meat is
about half cooked when you get to-
ward the bone. Now, in Denmark
you might carve a hundred hams
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,
then9'' asked the transplanted
southern colonel's transplanted
wife. "Ham is thing that should
be boiled for hours and hours over
Il hot fire. Now, in South Carolina,
where I was born, and in Virginia,
where the colonel was born, we al
ways put ham on right after break
fast when we want it ready for
midday dinner, and, furthermore,
the cook keeps little niger busy
keeping up the fire all the time the
ham is on the stove. Ham isn't ham
if it isn't well boiled before it is
baked.''
"That's where you and the people
in Denmark disagree remarked
the returned traveller. ''They say
emphatically that ham to be thor
oughly cooked should not be boiled.
How do they cook it? In a hay box.
What is a hay box9 Hay boxes are
used great deal in Denmark. A
hay box is an ordinary wooden box
with lining of hay about foot
thick. The hay is covered with
cheesecloth to keep it in place and
for durability. Of course, your hay
box can be of any size, but the yes
sci must fit in it closely. But that is
getting ahead of my story.
When a Danish housewife wishes
to cook a ham, she prepares it prop
erly about dark and puts it into
pot of cold water, which she places
over the fire. AS soon as the water
comes to a hard boil she lifts the
pot from the fire and puts it into a
hay box, carefully covering the top
of the box with close fitting lid.
When she gets up in the morning,
the ham is thoroughly cooked to the
bone. Will the water boil in the hay
boxs Oh, no! But it keeps at the
same temperature all night, and an
even temperature is the secret of
perfect cooking. The water is just
as hot when she gets up in the
morning as when she goes to bed at
night. The ham is done, and she
doesn't have to worry her head as
to whether. it will be done to the
bone by dinner time, and, best of
all, she never,bas to send it to the
kitchen to be cooked over. A ham
cooked in this way retains all the
juice and sweetness and fairly
makes your mouth water to think
about it.
"Those Danish hay boxes, Nine.
Colonel" he went on, "are great
things. Such thing as running wa
ter is unknown in the houses of
Denmark, but, by George, the peo-
pie 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 the washstand in every bedroom
or in the closet is a hay box, and at
every hour in the day or night you
can find a vessel Of steaming water
there. A little enough thing in
| itself, ehi But it's the little things
that make life livable, ism t its Yes,
| you people down south know how
| to cure and cook hams, and you
know how to do it well, but you
yourselves would own that you are
mere novices at the business if you
once got a taste of a Danish ham
cooked overnight in hay box. -
New York Sun.
| No Alternative.
He was a Spectator, and for a
| year past nothing had been coming