Le Jambon Chaud à la Chablisienne

Finally. FINALLY!  A recipe STARTS with “Preheat the oven . . .” I was beginning to lose hope. This is bachelor’s gourmet at its simplest. Do it right and you’ve got a masterpiece. Do it wrong and it’s still ham with chablis

This is bachelor’s gourmet at its simplest. Do it right and you’ve got a masterpiece. Do it wrong and it’s still ham with Chablis so eat your mistake.

I don’t know why I think this, but this just seems like such a guy’s recipe. It’s just ham and wine with a few extra ingredients and no matter what cookbook you open to check it, the ingredients and method are the same: put the ham in a pot with half a bottle of wine. Make a sauce with the other half of the bottle. Serve hot.

Price calls the sauce unusual which may have been true in 1961 but maybe not so much today. The recipe is all over French cooking sites and I suspect it’s got a lot of sentimental baggage but I wouldn’t know because I no parlay Francoise.

Chablis is just French chardonnay so if you can’t find Chablis, use fucking chardonnay. But if you can’t find Chablis, seriously, where the fuck do you shop? 

 

I suspect the rule of better wine makes better sauce may not obtain here since it’s Chablis and you’re about to ham the shit out of it so maybe don’t break the bank on a bottle. But for God’s sake don’t buy shit wine either. Spend a ten spot and chill out.

Price calls for brown stock, which might work. But most recipes I’ve seen call for Chicken stock. I suppose you could use a brown chicken stock or just make your own damn stock. Thing is, the chicken stock really brings out the ham.

Finally, try and get fresh tarragon. Hell, just grow some–it’s a fucking weed. So easy to grow. Tarragon is magical.

 

is an award-winning author and columnist from Chicago. His latest book is The Full English, a humorous travel memoir. His previous book, Death By Children, was IndieFab's 2013 Humor Book of the Year. Bull is the founder and senior writer for Creative Writer PRO, smokes Ace Prime Travelers, and is gumbo capable.

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