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Boiled Ham

A ham boiled for five hours, then baked and optionally topped with crackers, served sliced.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Boiled Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Wash the ham in warm water and scrape it clean.

  2. Place the ham in a large pot and cover it with cold water.

Boil and cool

  1. Boil steadily for five hours.

  2. Remove the ham and place it in a baking pan to cool.

  3. Dip your hands in cold water and peel the skin off the ham.

Bake and serve

  1. Set the ham in a 350°F (175°C) oven, lean side down.

  2. If desired, sift pounded crackers over the ham and bake for one hour.

  3. For serving, slice the ham and use the scraps for sandwiches or an omelet with eggs.

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. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,084 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main cut, cooked slowly in water until tender and fully cooked through.
Pounded crackers
Form a crisp, browned crust on the outside of the ham during baking.
Eggs
Set into a firm structure when cooked, giving the optional omelet body.

The step that matters

Boil steadily for five hours. The water should stay at a steady simmer rather than a hard rolling boil, since vigorous boiling toughens the meat and can break the skin. Keeping the ham covered in water ensures even cooking throughout.

“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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