Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
To Steam a Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the ham
If the ham has been hung for some time, soak it in cold water overnight or place it on a damp stone sprinkled with water for two days to mellow.
Wash the ham well and place it in a steamer over a pot of boiling water.
Steam and finish
Steam the ham for the time required based on its weight.
Once done, remove the skin and sprinkle bread crumbs over the ham.
Preserve the skin as whole as possible and cover the ham with it when cold to prevent it from drying out.
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.
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 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
- Ham
- Is the main cut that is steamed until cooked through and served.
- Bread crumbs
- Sprinkled over the ham to add a light coating on the surface.
The step that matters
Preserve the skin as whole as possible. The skin acts as a barrier that slows moisture loss as the ham cools, so keeping it intact and covering the ham with it helps prevent drying out.
“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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