Name: New England Country Baked Ham
Ingredients: 1 (8 lb) ham; 3 quarts sweet cider; 2 cups raisins; 2 cups maple sugar; 2 teaspoons dry mustard; 1 teaspoon ground cloves; 4 fluid ounces water

Why it works: Mustard and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,829 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

New England Country Baked Ham

Oven325 degrees

Time2½ hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

Simmer ham in cider for 2 hours.
Drain, skin ham, and cover it with paste made from maple sugar, mustard, cloves, and water. If maple sugar is unavailable, use a 50/50 mix of granulated brown sugar and real maple syrup.

Bake and serve

Place in baking pan, pour cider over it, add raisins to pan, and bake 2½ hours at 325 degrees. Baste frequently.
Make thickened gravy of cider raisin drippings.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

415Calories

28 gProtein

15 gFat

44 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Cider	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,829 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Cider + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,414 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cider + clovetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,683 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham: Main cut that is simmered, then baked until heated through and tender.
Sweet cider: Simmering and pan liquid that adds moisture and fruity flavor to the ham and drippings.
Maple sugar: Sweetens the paste and promotes browning on the ham's surface as it bakes.
Raisins: Add chewy sweetness and fruit flavor to the pan juices and gravy.

The step that matters

Baste frequently. Spooning pan liquid over the ham during baking keeps the surface moist and helps the sugar glaze brown evenly rather than drying or burning in spots.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, cider, sugar, mustard, clove):

Applefits better
Figfits better
Plumfits better
Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, cider, sugar, mustard, clove. 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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New England Country Baked Ham