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To Cure Beef Hams

A method for curing beef hams with a spice brine, drying, and optional sugar and cayenne seasoning.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Cure Beef Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the hams

  1. Make a brine that will float an egg.

  2. Add ground cloves, allspice, cayenne pepper, and black pepper to the brine.

  3. Submerge the beef hams in the brine and let them stay for 3 weeks, changing their positions occasionally.

  4. After 3 weeks, let the hams drain for several hours.

Season, dry and serve

  1. Sprinkle lightly with brown sugar and additional cayenne pepper if desired.

  2. Roll the hams tightly and tie with coarse string, then hang to dry.

  3. After a few days, slice and cook as you would beefsteak.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef hams
The main meat that the brine penetrates and cures over the 3 weeks.
Brown sugar
Adds a light sweetness to the sprinkled surface of the cured hams.
Ground cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour to the brine.
Allspice
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the brine.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat to the brine and to the optional surface seasoning.

The step that matters

Submerging the hams in the brine for 3 weeks. The brine must stay at the right strength and the hams must be turned occasionally so every surface cures evenly. Uneven contact lets spoilage start in unprotected spots, and salt needs time to penetrate the thick cut fully.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, clove, pepper, beef, ham, 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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