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Baked Ham

A ham baked with molasses, mustard, and brown sugar, simmered in water and roasted until caramelized.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Baked Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the raw ham in cold water overnight.

  2. Cover the ham with warm water, add molasses, and boil for about 20 minutes per pound until tender.

  3. Remove the ham to a roasting pan and peel off the thick skin from the fat part.

Glaze and bake

  1. Mix Coleman's dry mustard with vinegar to make a paste and cover the ham with it.

  2. Add the water used for boiling the ham to the roasting pan and bake for 1 hour, basting often.

  3. Scrape off any mustard that becomes too brown, sprinkle liberally with brown sugar, and bake until the sugar is dark brown.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

  5. Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,424 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

Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color to the ham's surface during boiling and baking.
Coleman's dry mustard
Forms a sharp paste over the ham that adds flavor and browns during baking.
Brown sugar
Caramelizes on the surface, creating a dark, sweet, glossy crust.
Vinegar
Mixes with the mustard to make a paste with a tangy, sharp flavor.

The step that matters

Scraping off over-browned mustard before the sugar goes on. Mustard and sugar both darken quickly in dry oven heat, and scorched mustard turns bitter. Removing it before adding the brown sugar keeps the glaze sweet and the crust from burning while the ham finishes baking.

“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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