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 ↓
Another Mode of Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Mix and rub
Mix the salt, saltpetre, sugar, and molasses together.
Rub the mixture well into the pork.
Cure in the tub
After nine days, turn the hams over, placing those on top at the bottom.
Rub the hams often with the mixture while in the tub to ensure thorough coverage.
After three weeks, remove the meat.
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.
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Pork + molassestop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together825 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pork + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,579 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the pork and penetrates the meat, preserving it and seasoning it.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured ham its characteristic pink color.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds sweetness to the finished ham.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and a deep flavor to the cure.
The step that matters
Rubbing the hams often while in the tub. Salt and cure only penetrate meat where they touch it. Any spot left unrubbed can cure unevenly and become a site for spoilage, so frequent rubbing ensures thorough coverage.
“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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