Let say I have this variable html which contain these select options:

 var html = '<select>'+
 '<option value="10">10</option>'+
 '<option value="20">20</option>'+
 '</select>';

How can I *programmatically* select an option which is inside the html variable so when I append them to somewhere, for example 

 $(this).children('div').append(html);


it will become like this:

 <div> <!-- children div of the current scope -->
 <select>
 <option value="10" selected>10</option>
 <option value="20">20</option>
 </select>
 </div>

How is it possible?

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edit: the variable contents is generated from remote locations, and I must change the value locally before it is being appended into a div. Hence, the question.

edit 2: sorry for the confusion, question has been updated with my real situation.