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Ham in Burgundy

A smoked ham braised in Burgundy wine with onions, brown sauce, currant jelly, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham in Burgundy

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Bone the ham and tie it together.

  2. Boil the ham slowly for 4 to 5 hours.

  3. Remove the thick skin from the ham and place it in a baking pan.

Make the onions

  1. Scald the onions six times.

  2. Brown the butter and sugar in a pan.

  3. Add ½ pint of the ham boiling water, lemon juice, and beef extract.

  4. Stew the onions in this mixture until browned.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour some brown sauce and wine over the ham.

  2. Bake in a very hot oven (400°F / 200°C).

  3. Gradually add the remaining sauce and wine, basting frequently for a brown glaze.

  4. Stir the currant jelly into the onion sauce, season with cayenne, and add to the Burgundy sauce.

  5. Slice the ham and serve with vegetables, chestnuts, macaroni, sauerkraut, and stewed onions.

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. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

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

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked ham
Forms the main body of the dish; long slow boiling makes it tender before glazing.
Brown sauce
Provides the rich, savoury liquid that is basted over the ham and reduces into a glaze.
Burgundy
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce that coats the ham.
Sugar
Caramelises with the butter to add sweetness and colour to the onions.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and browns to build flavour in the onion base.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and a fruity tang to the finished onion sauce.

The step that matters

Basting during the hot bake. Frequent basting of the sauce over the ham builds a brown glaze, since the sugars and proteins on the surface brown in the hot oven while the liquid keeps the surface from drying out.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, beef, sugar, sauce, butter, lemon):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, beef, sugar, sauce, butter, lemon. 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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