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Ham Truffled a LA Floeian

A smoked ham is braised, larded with truffles and pistachios, glazed, covered in jelly, and served on a carved rice socle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pistachio and rice work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 140 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Ham Truffled a LA Floeian

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold and ring

  1. Oil the outside of the mold and place it on an oiled marble slab with the opening down.

  2. Fit the iron ring around the mold and fill the space with wet plaster of Paris; smooth the top and let it harden.

  3. Remove the mold from the plaster ring.

Cook and trim the ham

  1. Unsalt the ham for 10 hours, then boil it in water for 1.5 hours.

  2. Braise the ham in white wine mirepoix stock for 3 hours or until the bones detach easily.

  3. Remove the bones and trim the ham, removing skin and smoked parts.

  4. Lard the ham with quartered truffles and pistachios.

Mould, glaze and serve

  1. Place the ham in the mold, add a board on top that is 1 inch smaller in diameter, and press down.

  2. Once cold, unmold and trim the ham.

  3. Glaze with pink chaudfroid, decorate with truffles and pistachios dipped in half-set jelly, and cover with jelly.

  4. Serve on a carved rice socle, decorating the top with three hatelets and the sides with chopped jelly and jelly croutons.

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. Pistachio + ricetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together140 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. White wine + truffletop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together425 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Truffle + pistachiotop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together92 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Ham + ricetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked ham
Forms the main body of the dish; long cooking makes it tender enough to press into shape.
Truffles
Provide an earthy aroma and a dark, luxurious contrast against the pale ham.
Pistachios
Add a mild nutty flavour and a bright green colour to the larded decoration.
Jelly
Sets into a clear, firm coating that seals and glosses the surface of the ham.
White wine mirepoix stock
Braises the ham in aromatic liquid, adding moisture and savoury flavour as it cooks.

The step that matters

Braise until the bones detach easily. Braising slowly breaks down the connective tissue in the ham so it becomes tender and moist. Stopping too early leaves it firm and hard to press into the mold, while overcooking can make it fall apart.

Swap the pistachio

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, white wine, truffle, rice):

  1. Peasfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Pistachiothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, white wine, truffle, rice. 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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