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Loudoun Baked Ham

A country-cured ham baked with a brown sugar crust and mustard‑vinegar glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓

Loudoun Baked Ham

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Simmer the ham

  1. Cover the ham with cold water and simmer gently for 2 to 3 hours until the skin loosens.

  2. Skim the water.

Glaze and bake

  1. Place the ham in a roasting pan.

  2. Prepare the liquid by mixing vinegar and hot water.

  3. Dissolve the mustard in the liquid.

  4. Pour the mustard-vinegar liquid over the ham.

  5. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 2 hours, basting constantly with the liquid.

  6. Cover the ham with a thick layer of brown sugar, pressing it down firmly.

  7. Do not baste again until the sugar forms a thick brown crust.

  8. Reduce the heat slightly to prevent burning the sugar and cook for about 1 hour.

  9. Drain the ham.

Cool and serve

  1. Transfer the ham to a large dish to cool.

  2. Place another flat dish on top.

  3. Weigh the dish down for 12 hours.

  4. Slice thinly for sandwiches.

  5. Serve as cold meat.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

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

What each ingredient does

Country-cured ham
Provides the main meat, which is cooked gently and then sliced cold.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the basting liquid, balancing the sweet brown sugar crust.
Coarse brown sugar
Melts and caramelises into a browned, sweet crust on the surface of the ham.
Ground mustard
Adds a sharp, savoury aroma that complements the sweetness of the sugar glaze.

The step that matters

Leave the ham unbasted until the sugar crust forms. Basting while the sugar is setting dissolves it and keeps the surface from browning into a firm crust. Lowering the heat slightly prevents the sugar from scorching before the crust is fully cooked.

“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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