Why it works: Ham and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,058 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Mr. Todd's Method for Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the hams
Place the hams in a large tray of fine Liverpool salt.
Sprinkle the flesh surface with powdered saltpeter until it looks white, then cover with fine salt.
Pack the hams in bulk, not more than three feet high, and let them sit for three days.
Break the bulk and re-salt with fine salt, letting them sit for one day for each pound of ham.
Finish and smoke
Wash the hams with tepid water until clean, then rub the surface with black pepper.
Hang the hams in the smokehouse and smoke gradually for 30 to 40 days.
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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Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hams
- Provide the meat that is cured, firmed, and flavoured by the salt and smoke.
- Fine liverpool salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it while the cure penetrates.
- Powdered saltpeter
- Helps the meat keep its pink colour and adds to the preserving effect of the cure.
The step that matters
Re-salting after breaking the bulk. Salt must reach the centre of each ham evenly. Letting the hams rest for the right time per pound allows the salt to penetrate fully, while uneven or insufficient salting can leave spoilage-prone areas near the bone.
“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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