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Boiled and Baked Ham

A ham is boiled with vinegar, molasses, cloves, and bay leaves, then baked with brown sugar until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Boiled and Baked Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham overnight in enough cold water to cover it.

  2. Wash and trim off the hard skin near the bone.

Boil the ham

  1. Place the ham in a kettle, cover with cold water, and add the vinegar and molasses.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook slowly until tender, about 30 minutes per pound.

  3. When halfway done, add the cloves and bay leaves.

  4. Once cooked, remove the kettle from the stove and let the ham cool in the brine.

  5. When cold, take it out of the water and remove the skin.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the ham in a pan, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) until browned.

  2. Serve in thin slices.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Clove + molassestop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through slow simmering in liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the brine, balancing the sweetness and sharpening the flavor of the meat.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color to the brine and the finished surface.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the outside and helps the surface brown during baking.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice to the brine.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle herbal aroma to the brine.

The step that matters

Cooling the ham in the brine. Letting the ham cool slowly in its liquid helps it stay moist and keeps the fibers from tightening, so the meat remains juicy rather than dry.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, vinegar, molasses, sugar. 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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