Jambon Soufflé (Hot Soufflé Ham)

Ingredients

• 1 ham
• Soufflé mixture with cooked ham
• lean cooked ham
• truffle
• butter

Instructions

1. Bone the ham as far as the tibia bone, cook it as usual and let it cool thoroughly.
2. Remove the skin and trim the ham all round.
3. Cut the ham horizontally into a sole a centimetre and a half thick, starting at the rounded end and running to the head of the tibia.
4. At the head of the tibia make a second, vertical cut that stops exactly where the horizontal cut ends, so that the noix comes away and only the knuckle with its adhering slice, or sole, is left; set the noix aside for another use.
5. Trim the sole correctly and surround it with a band of stout buttered paper tied with string, to contain the soufflé mixture.
6. Set the whole on the serving dish.
7. Heap enough of either soufflé mixture on the slice of ham adhering to the knuckle to rebuild the ham in its original form, and smooth it with a knife blade dipped in cold water, keeping the shape of the ham.
8. Decorate the surface with details of lean cooked ham and truffle.
9. Stand the serving dish on a low pan or sautoir filled with boiling water and put it in the oven, so that the steam poaches the mixture; the ham may equally be poached in the hot closet or in steam.