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Mutton Hams

A preserved mutton ham cured with salt, sugar, saltpetre, pepper, and cloves, then smoked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Mutton Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Take large fine legs of mutton freshly killed, and wipe them dry with a clean towel.

  2. Mix half a pound of salt, an ounce of saltpetre, and half a pound of brown sugar together, slightly heating over the fire.

  3. Rub the mixture well into the meat.

  4. Put the hams into a salting-tub, and keep them there two or three days, turning and rubbing them frequently.

  5. Make a second mixture of half a pound more brown sugar, the same amount of salt, an ounce of saltpetre, an ounce of black pepper, and an ounce of cloves, pounded fine. Heat this mixture a few minutes.

  6. Take the hams out of the tub and wipe them dry.

  7. Rub the second mixture into the hams.

  8. Clean the salting-tub.

  9. Return the hams to the tub.

  10. Cover the hams and let them lie for a fortnight, turning them several times and basting them with the liquid.

Smoke and wrap

  1. Smoke the hams for a fortnight, using green birch, oak, hickory, or corn-cobs as fuel.

  2. Sow the hams up in new cloths and white-wash the outside of the covers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

62Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
16 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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

Mutton legs (in the method)
Form the ham, and the meat absorbs the cure and firms as it cures and smokes.
Salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping preserve it during the long cure.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives it its characteristic pink color during curing.
Brown sugar
Balances the salt with sweetness and softens the harshness of the cure.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, aromatic flavour to the cured surface.
Cloves
Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the second cure.

The step that matters

Turning and basting the hams during the second cure. The cure only penetrates evenly if the liquid and salt are redistributed by turning and basting. Neglecting this leaves uneven curing, with salty or underdone patches.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper. 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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