The labor world., 1898-02-05
HAM COOKED in A HAY BOX.

The Danish Housewives flau AHu Aeb De-
licious Results Told by a Traveller.
"Talk about your turkey stuffed
with Eye-talian chestnuts or Lynn
Haven oysters, all you want to-"
said the transplanted southern colo
mel, "but saJ give me 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.''
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
fiat by the side of Denmark ham as
northern ham does compared with
southern. Of. course a 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 coun-
tries and l have never tasted such
ham as l 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
a day and each one would be done
through and through, and yet they
are only allowed to come to boil. "
"Why, how can they be done,
then2'' asked the stransplanted
southern colonel's transplanted
wife. "Ham is a thing that should
be boiled for hours and hours over
a hot fire. Now, in South Carolina,
where 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 we'll 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
ough]y cooked should not be boiled.
How do they cook it9 In hay box.
What is a hay box2 Hay boxes are
used great deal in Denmark. A
hay box is an ordinary wooden box
with a lining Of hay about a 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 ham, she prepares it prop
erly about dark and puts it into a
pot of cold water, which she places
over the fire. AS soon as the water
comes to a hard boil che lifts the
pot from the fire and puts it into a
hay box, carefully covering the top
of the box with a 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
box? Oh, no! But it keeps at the
came temperature all night, and an
even temperature is the secret of
perfect cooking. The water is just
as hot when che gets up in the
morning as when she goes to bed at
night. The ham is done, and che
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 has 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 a 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, ehf But it's the little things
that make life livable, isn't it, Yes,
YOU reop!e down south know how