The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-06-17
HAM COOKED IN A HAY BOX.

y
with Eye-talian chestnuts or Lynn
Haven oysters, all you want to-"
said the transplanted southern colo
mel, 'but say 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.
IL used to think that you south
ern people knew how to cure ana
cook hams, too, until went to Den
mark" answered the returned trav-
eler, "but, bless your soul, your
southern ham tastes as tame ana
fiat by the side of Denmark ham as
northern ham does compared with
southern. Of course ham has got
to be good aud properly cured at
the start, but the biggest part of a
sweet, juicy, tasty ham lies in the
cooking. Now I've been in II coun-
tries and have never tasted such
ham as / got in Denmark. The
nearer the bone the sweeter the
meat cannot often be applied to
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,
thenY" asked the transplanted
southern colonels transplanted
wife. "Ham is thing that should
be boiled for hours and hours over
a hot fire. Now, in South Carolina,
where I was born, and in Virginia,
where the colonel was born, we al
1 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' 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 it2 In hay box.
What is hay box2 Hay boxes are
used great deal in Denmark. A
hay box is an ordinary wooden box
with a 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 Danish housewife wishes
to cook ham, she prepares it prop
erly about dark and puts it into a
not of cold water, which she places
over the fire. AS soon as the water
comes to a hard boil she lifts the
not from the fire and puts 1t into
) hay box, carefully covering the tor
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
box2 Oh, mol But it keeps at the
same temperature all night, and al
even temperature is the secret o.
perfect cooking. The water is JUS
: as hot when she gets up in thu
morning as when she goes TO bed a
3 night. The ham is done, and sh'
doesn't have to worry her head a
. to whether it will be done to tn
, bone by dinner time, and, best 0
. all. she never has to send 1t to tn
kitchen to be cooked over. A han
r cooked in this way retains all tn
: iuice and sweetness and falrl,
makes your mouth water to thin
: about it.
+ "Those Danish hay boxes, Mime
e Colonel" he went on, "are grea
things. Such a thing as running wa
ter is unknown in the houses Q
Denmark, but, by George, the pee
( nile over there seem to be more fius
with hot water than we are with a
q our boilers, coal ranges and mile
r of hot water pipes. In the cupboar
of the washstand in every bedroom