We used to get as a Christmas present from James Beard a whole genuine Southern ham, and it sustained us throughout the winter months. But it’s not so easy for the person living alone to cope with that much ham. My solution is to buy about a 1-pound slice of ham and bake it. I can enjoy it in this old family recipe, which gets rid of the usual watery, over salted taste that most of our commercial hams have today and gives the meat a wonderful flavor. You can have a few good slices of it the first night for dinner, and the leftovers are there to be used in all kinds of ways.

　　

Ingredients

1 slice ham, about 1 pound*

　　About 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

　　Milk (up to 1 cup)

　　3 or 4 fresh sage leaves, if available, or 3 dried, or a sprinkling of dried rosemary

　　2–3 teaspoons dark-brown sugar

　　

Step 1

Put the ham in a shallow baking dish that will just accommodate the slice, and smear the mustard on top. Pour milk all around, enough to almost cover the surface, lay the sage leaves on top, and sprinkle the sugar over it. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 1 hour, occasionally opening the oven and spooning some of the curdling milk over the top.

　　

Step 2

Your first portion of this will taste particularly good with a purée of parsnips (or another root vegetable) mixed with potatoes alongside.

　　

Second Round

Step 3

There are many, many suggestions for using the rest of the ham throughout these pages.

　　Cooks' Note

　　*Ideally, you want a slice that is at least 1 inch thick, but that is hard to find, so I often settle for the supermarket slice, which is about 1/2 inch. If you find a butcher who will cut you the thicker slice, by all means take it. It will probably be a good 2 pounds, but you can use the ham in so many ways, it will serve you well.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.