[SOLVED] Alter selected menu item

[SOLVED] Alter selected menu item

I can access the drop-down value(s) the visitor has chosen by
$("#ak option:selected").each(function () {...
but now I want to force the drop-down list to be selected to a particular default value of my choosing ... how would I do this?
I did try:
$("#ak option:selected").each(
      function () {
         $(this).text('-> Choose Accessory kind');
      } // end anon function for  #ak option:selected
   ); // end each

but I ended up with a new drop-down list element rather than selecting an existing one ... which is what I really want.