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Boiled Ham

A ham boiled with molasses and brown sugar, then baked with cracker crumbs and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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 ↓

Boiled Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Clean the ham with a brush.

  2. Soak the ham in water overnight.

Cook

  1. In a boiler, add enough water to cover the ham.

  2. Add molasses and brown sugar to the water.

  3. Cook the ham slowly for 4 hours.

  4. Let the ham cool in the cooking water.

Finish and bake

  1. Peel the skin off the ham like an orange.

  2. Sift cracker crumbs and black pepper over the top.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for 1 hour, basting frequently with the juices.

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.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Molasses + peppertop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,084 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

North carolina cured ham
Is the main meat, seasoned by curing and cooked until tender.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness and helps the glaze darken during baking.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown and caramelize in the oven.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust on the surface of the ham.

The step that matters

Slow cooking in the water. Simmering gently rather than boiling hard keeps the ham tender and prevents the outside from toughening or splitting while the centre cooks through.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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