Name: Boiling Ham
Ingredients: 1 ham; rough claret or strong beer; water; vegetables (carrots, onions, etc.); hay

Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Boiling Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Wash the ham in rough claret or strong beer.
Wrap the ham in several cloths soaked in the liquor and bury it four feet deep in the earth for two days.
After two days, exhume the ham, unpack it, and trim off any tainted parts.

Boil and rest

Tie the ham in a cloth and boil it in a mixture of half rough claret and half water with vegetables and as much hay as the boiler will hold.
When done, tighten the cloth and transfer the ham and contents to a large basin to rest until the next day.

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.

Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beer + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together830 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Beer + carrottop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,159 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ham + carrottop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

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

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 that is cured and then slowly cooked until tender.
Rough claret or strong beer: Its acidity and flavour penetrate the meat during washing and wrapping, adding aroma.
Hay: Gives a smoky, aromatic flavour to the ham as it boils in the cloth.