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To Boil Ham

A ham is boiled in water, then covered with raspings and garnished with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,249 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

To Boil Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the ham in cold water for 12 to 20 hours, depending on how long it has been cured.

  2. Scrape the ham well and place it in a saucepan with plenty of lukewarm water.

Cook

  1. Gradually bring the water to a boil, removing any scum that rises.

  2. Simmer gently until the ham is tender, ensuring it does not stop boiling or boil too quickly.

  3. Cook for 25 minutes per pound plus an additional 25 minutes.

  4. Once done, let the ham sit in the cooking liquid until nearly cold.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the rind.

  2. Cover the ham with raspings.

  3. Place a paper frill around the knuckle.

  4. Garnish with parsley.

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 + parsleytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,249 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 of meat, whose curing and long gentle cooking make it tender and flavourful.
Raspings
Breadcrumb-style coating that adds a crisp, golden surface to the cooled ham.

The step that matters

Simmer gently without a rolling boil. Vigorous boiling toughens the meat's proteins and can break the ham apart, while a gentle simmer lets the connective tissue soften slowly and evenly.

“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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