Why it works: Meat and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,866 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Sugar Cured Hams and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the brine
Remove gills from the meat and allow it to drain overnight.
Weigh out 8 pounds of coarse sea salt, 2 pounds of brown sugar, and 2 ounces of saltpeter.
Dissolve the salt, sugar, and saltpeter in 4 gallons of water.
For summer use, boil the brine and let it cool before using. For winter curing, it is not necessary to boil the brine.
Cure the meat
Cover the meat with the brine and ensure it is fully submerged.
Soak the bacon strips in the brine for 4 to 6 weeks and the hams for 6 to 8 weeks.
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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Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,866 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
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping preserve it during curing.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the cure.
- Saltpeter
- Helps preserve the meat's color and inhibits spoilage bacteria during long curing.
The step that matters
Keeping the meat fully submerged in the brine. Any meat left above the brine can spoil or cure unevenly, because the brine is what preserves and seasons each part. Keeping every piece covered for the full curing time gives a safe, even result.
“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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