Why it works: Ham and honey work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and 12 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Glaze the ham
Place ham in large roasting pan and pour pineapple juice and honey over top.
Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake at 325°F for two hours.
Make the Cumberland sauce
Meanwhile, to make sauce: in large saucepan, pour hot water over currants and let stand until plumped, about 20 minutes.
Cut orange and lemon rinds into very fine julienne about ¾ inch long; poach in simmering water for 20 minutes.
Drain, discarding water, and set aside.
Stir cornstarch mixture into currants and water; cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until sauce has thickened and become transparent.
Add brown sugar, orange and lemon juice, jelly and wine; stir until jelly is melted and add prepared orange and lemon rinds and black cherries.
Serve warm over ham slices.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Ham + honeytop 24% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Currant + red curranttop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together57 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10,632 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Pineapple + orangetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,662 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Orange + red curranttop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together124 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the main dish, cooked gently in its glaze so it stays moist and tender.
- Honey
- Adds sweetness and helps the glaze caramelize and brown on the surface of the ham.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and molasses flavor, and helps the glaze darken and caramelize in the oven.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it a glossy, clear body.
- Red currant jelly
- Adds sweetness, body and tartness, and melts smoothly into the sauce.
- Currants
- Plump in hot water and add chewy texture and tart fruit flavor to the sauce.
The step that matters
Cook the cornstarch sauce until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a simmer while stirred constantly. Stopping early leaves a thin sauce, and letting it sit without stirring can scorch the bottom of the pan.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pineapple, honey, sugar, currant, orange, red currant):
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Raspberrybetter flavor fit
- Applebetter flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pineapple, honey, sugar, currant, orange, red currant. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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