Historic Recipe: Ham Ramekins (1925)

Source: Mrs Beeton’s Hors d’Oeuvres & Savouries (1925)

I finally found the time and money to get my awful 1980s bathroom overhauled and whilst I was stuck in the flat with a sulking dog and two faintly chaotic workies, I thought I would take the chance to make some historic recipes.

Recipe:
Procure 5 oz. of finely-chopped lean cooked ham, 2 eggs, 4 tablespoonfuls of milk, ½ a teaspoonful of powered mixed herbs, made mustard, Krona pepper, salt and pepper.

Beat the yolks of eggs slightly, add the ham, milk, herbs, a small ½ mustardspoonful of mustard, salt and pepper to taste, and mix well together. Have ready 8 well-buttered china ramekin cases, fill them rather more than three-quarters full with the mixture, and bake until set. Meanwhile beat the white of egg to a stiff froth, season with a little salt, and pile roughly above the level of the cases. Sprinkle with Krona pepper, replace in the oven and bake until the white of the egg is crisp and lightly browned. Serve hot. This should be sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

I had to look up Krona pepper, which is apparently a condiment made from a mixture of paprika and dried, ground capsicum pods. It is similar to cayenne pepper but brighter red in colour and less pungent. I couldn’t find any, so I substituted it for cayenne. Otherwise, the recipe was relatively self-explanatory, although it is a classic victim of the ‘I have a named spoon for everything’ mentality which is not dissimilar to the ‘I have a named type of cup for everything’. Is that a breakfastcupful or a coffeecupful? Nah, it’s a chocolatecupful.

Where things got confusing was Mrs Beeton’s and my contrasting definitions of ramekins. The quantity of mixture the recipe generated was never going to fill eight modern ramekins, so I substituted egg cups, which just about worked.

The result had a pleasant taste, but the texture of the egg white topping was somehow simultaneously chewy and a little bit slimy. It also separated from the rest of the creation and did not seem to fill any particular purpose beyond making the recipe more complex.

Suggested alterations: If you mix the whites in with the yolks, these are basically simple and tasty breakfast bites.

Final verdict: Let me be very clear, this will not feed “5 or 6 persons”. It may feed four if you’re lucky and have a range of other hors d’oeuvres at hand. For breakfast, it will feed one. Also, Beeton missed a trick, these should have been called Hamekins.