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 ↓
Cured and Smoked Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Combine salt, brown sugar, and saltpetre in a large dish-pan.
Add enough warm water to create a soft mush consistency.
Rub the mixture into each ham and shoulder, ensuring all parts are covered.
Stack the hams, flesh side up, and let them sit for 3 to 5 days, depending on the weather.
Place the hams in a barrel and cover with previously boiled, strained, and cooled brine.
Let them soak for 4 to 6 weeks.
After soaking, wash and drain the hams.
Smoke and finish
Hang them hock end down at least 6 feet above a slow fire made of green hickory, sugar maple chips, or corn cobs.
Smoke the hams until they turn a pretty yellow color, stopping smoking during dry weather, but occasionally smoking in rainy weather.
For two weeks during dry weather, smoke continuously.
From early to mid-March, rub the hams with a cloth dipped in molasses and coat with black pepper.
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).
-
Pepper + molassestop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it during curing.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the cure.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the ham's pink color and inhibits spoilage during curing.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during smoking.
The step that matters
Smoking in dry versus rainy weather. Smoke density and surface moisture change with humidity. Stopping smoke in dry weather and smoking only occasionally in rain keeps the surface from drying too fast or taking on harsh, bitter flavour, and helps the colour develop evenly.
“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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