To boil.—Sugar-cured are preferred to others.
Scrape off the outside gently, soak in cold water for from six to twenty-four hours, take off and wipe dry.
Envelop it in a towel and tie it. Place it in a kettle large enough to hold it without bending it; cover with cold water; season with six small onions, two carrots, four cloves, two bay-leaves, a handful or two plants of parsley, two or three stalks of thyme, two of celery, two cloves of garlic (a handful of hay and half a bottle of white wine, if handy would improve the taste); boil gently for four or five hours, according to the size (four hours for a ten-pound one, five for a fifteen-pound one). Pay no attention to the old saying that "it takes half an hour to every pound."
Take from the fire, remove the towel, break off and remove the small bone at the larger end of it, and without tearing the meat. Remove the rind also, leaving only about two inches of it near the smaller end, cutting it so that it will be dentilated.
To decorate.—It is decorated in several ways, according to taste and fancy. If the fat is not white after having removed the rind, spread a very thin coat of lard over it, place the ham on a dish, the fatty side up. Cut carrots, turnips, and beets, boiled tender, in fancy shapes, with paste-cutters or with a knife; place them tastefully all over the ham; place also all over it some parsley, capers, and olives. Chop some meat-jelly and put it all around the dish, and serve. In carving it, scrape back the lard and vegetables, slice, and serve.
Another.—When boiled, trimmed, and the rind removed, put it in the oven for about twenty minutes, basting the while with a Madeira sauce. Serve with the sauce. Any kind of purée may be served with it.
Another.—When trimmed and soaked in water as directed, boil it with half wine and half water: the same seasonings as when boiled in water. Use either Catawba, Sauterne, or Rhine wine. It makes it more expensive, but it is excellent. It is served as when boiled in water.
Another.—Boil it in claret wine, and when trimmed and decorated, serve it with a mushroom or a truffle sauce.
Another.—Boil, trim, and cut off the rind as described in the above cases; place the frill, and serve with spinach au beurre.