TO ROAST A HAM.

Take a very fine ham (a Westphalia one if you can procure it) and soak
it in lukewarm water for a day or two, changing the water frequently.
The day before you intend cooking it, take the ham out of the water,
and (having removed the skin) trim it nicely, and pour over it a bottle
of Madeira or sherry. Let it steep till next morning, frequently during
the day washing the wine over it. Put it on the spit in time to allow
at least six hours for slowly roasting it. Baste it continually with
hot water. When it is done, dredge it all over with fine bread-raspings
shaken on through the top of the dredging box; and set it before the
fire to brown.

For gravy, take the wine in which the ham was steeped, and add to it
the essence or juice which flowed from the meat when taken from the
spit. Squeeze in the juice of two lemons. Put it into a sauce-pan, and
boil and skim it. Send it to table in a boat. Cover the shank of the
ham (which should have been sawed short) with bunches of double
parsley, and ornament it with a cluster of flowers cut out with a
penknife from raw carrots, beets, and turnips; and made to imitate
marygolds, and red and white roses.
