Name: To Cure Hams Fixely
Ingredients: 100 pounds of ham; 2 pounds of brown sugar; 4 pounds of coarse sea salt (formerly 'rock salt'); ¼ pound of saltpetre (optional); molasses (enough to make a thick batter)

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Cure Hams Fixely

Ingredients

100 pounds of ham
2 pounds of brown sugar
4 pounds of coarse sea salt (formerly 'rock salt')
¼ pound of saltpetre (optional)
molasses (enough to make a thick batter)

Directions

Mix the brown sugar, coarse sea salt, and saltpetre together in a bowl.
Add enough molasses to the mixture to create a thick batter.
Rub the hams thoroughly with the batter.
Ensure the hams are well coated for effective curing.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,084 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ham + molassestop 38% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together55 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).