(after Johann Rottenhöfer: "Illustrated Cookbook)
New complete theoretical-practical instruction in the fine art of cooking with special reference to stately and bourgeois cuisine". (Munich, 1884)
."A Westphalian, Bayonn or Mainz ham is soaked overnight in milk and water, then the tail bone and the whole cane leg are taken out by a skilful cutting loose with a thin, sharp knife, twisted off at the lower bone, then the meat is carefully made up again, the ham tied net-like with twine, placed in a suitable, well-closing dish, topped with a few pieces of coarse ox meat and a calf jarret (calf), seasoned with some onions, yellow turnips, a celery, several parsley roots, bay leaves, cloves and whole peppercorns, basted with two bouteilles of good Madeira sec and as much good consommé, covered, the lid well capped with scalded flour paste, the dish placed on a burning wind stove, and when the ham begins to boil, the dish placed in a cooled oven and steamed quite slowly for four to five hours, according to its size. After this time the ham will be soft and in its fullest juiciness; the same is now carefully taken out with a large flat skimmer, untied, the skin peeled off, neatly trimmed on all sides, nicely glazed, a paper cuff pinned to the bone at the bottom, served, and kept warm. The essence of the ham is passed through, very purely degreased, boiled out purely with a spoonful of sauce espagnole for half an hour, and added in a saucière extra."
With Waldemar Thomas in search of the Jambon de Mayence
.Alexandre Dumas the Elder is well known as the author of "The Three Musketeers" or "The Count of Monte Christo". But as a cookbook author? Not many people in this country know him. In his "Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine" he sings the praises not only of the deliciousness of pork but also of its benefits for the national economy: "Hams and shoulders of pork have given two cities their wealth: Bayonne and Mainz. Which brings us to the topic at hand: The legendary Mainz ham, the Jambon de Mayence.
That the old city on the Rhine is mentioned at all in this context is quite surprising to us today. Too long has passed the great age of Mainz ham, too thoroughly has its once fabulous reputation blown away. To trace the lost class of Mainz ham is indeed not easy.
Klaus Heck, head master of the Mainz butchers' guild, certainly knows immediately if you ask him about "Mainzer Schinken". Rabelais (1494-1553), the author of "Gargantua et Pantagruel", already mentioned "Jambon de Mayence": "Grandgousier was a jolly fellow in his day, as fond of drinking to the bottom as any in those days, and eating salted things to go with it. For this purpose he always kept a capable supply of Mainz and Bayonne hams, smoked ox tongues, sausages of various kinds, just as the season was".
He himself, tells master butcher Heck, has already made the most diverse efforts to find a recipe for this much-vaunted delicacy, but so far without success.
Magister Elsholtz, who is consulted here from time to time, knew the Mainz ham: "Heut zu tage haben die Westphälischen den Vorzug wie auch die Mainzischen, les Jambons de Mayence". ("Diaeteticon" of 1682). Also in the "Universal Lexicon of the Culinary Arts" of 1890, it states: ".The best German hams are considered to be the Westphalian and the Mainzer".
Johann Rottenhöfer, "Königlicher Haushofmeister and before that first mouth cook of weiland Seiner Majestät König Maximilian des II. von Bayern", also knew and praised him: "We obtain the best hams from Westphalia, Pomerania, Bayonne, Mainz, for these are distinguished by tenderness of their meat and by an excellent taste" (1884). Rottenhöfer, however, does not go beyond generalities. How Mainzer Schinken was produced, what distinguished it, why it was praised everywhere, the authors are silent about it. So one must assume that the secret of the origin of the Jambon de Mayence has fallen into oblivion, especially since also the Mainz butchers seem to know nothing more about it.
But then: "Mainz ham is brined, desalted, soaked in brandy or wine lees and smoked for a long period" - "Mainz ham is brined, watered, then soaked in brandy or wine lees and smoked for a long period". So it is written in the place where one would have least suspected it: in the English edition (there is no German one) of the Larousse gastronomique.
From this reference in the bible of the culinary art, dear butchers of Mainz, something should be possible to make. Even if Obermeister Heck is skeptical in view of difficult times.
Fleischer-Innung Mainz
Obermeister Klaus Heck
Rheinallee 197
55120 Mainz
Email: [klaus.heck@fe-mainz.de
from Waldemar Thomas