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Boiled Ham

A ham soaked in salt, boiled, then baked with crackers and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,237 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Boiled Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Soak the ham in salt for several hours.

  2. Wash the ham thoroughly and trim off any black parts.

Boil and rest

  1. Cover the ham with cold water and cook slowly for 30 minutes per pound.

  2. Add sherry wine to the boiling ham just before it is done, if desired.

  3. Remove from heat and let it sit in the water overnight.

Glaze and bake

  1. Cut off the skin and press whole cloves into the fat.

  2. Sprinkle the top with cracker crumbs and brown sugar.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

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. Clove + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,237 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ham + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Clove + winetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-isoeugenol (clove, spicy).

  4. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main cut that is cured, simmered, and then baked to a tender, flavorful finish.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the ham during the initial soak and helps draw out moisture and flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the glaze caramelize and brown in the oven.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crust on the surface that soaks up the glaze and adds a toasted texture.
Whole cloves
Add a warm, aromatic spice flavor to the fat layer as the ham bakes.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly rather than boiling hard. Gentle, slow cooking keeps the meat tender and prevents the outer layers from toughening and drying out while the center heats through.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, sugar, sherry, wine):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, sugar, sherry, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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