Jambon à la Prague sous la Cendre

Jambon à la Prague sous la Cendre (Prague ham baked in a sealed paste crust) teaches containment. Before you touch a pan, know this: the ham must go into the pâte à pâté dry, and the paste must close without a pinhole except for its deliberate vent. The shell traps the smoked juices, takes a coppery gilding, and gives the Port nowhere to go but into the meat.

The original assumed a full Prague ham, a salamander for the powdered-sugar glaze, a saucier beside stock never off the fire, and enough hands to decorate a parade-sized crust. At home, a 3-pound boneless smoked ham, the broiler, one saucepan of reduced unsalted stock, and a sturdy hand-mixed paste do the honest work. The brigade-sized joint and elaborate ornament are scaffolding; the gentle poach, sugar glazing, complete envelope, post-bake Port injection, and last-minute buttered glaze are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Expect a burnished oval that opens onto rosy, smoke-scented ham, with Port spreading through each hot slice and a glossy spoonful of sauce running beside it. When you wrap the joint, turn the seam underneath and patch every tear before gilding; that seal is the step that decides the dish.