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To Bake a Ham

A ham coated in a flour‑water paste, baked with drippings, then crusted with bread crumbs and optionally garnished with cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Bake a Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham overnight in cold water if necessary, depending on how long it has been since curing.

  2. Make a paste with flour and water until it has an elastic consistency.

  3. Encase the ham in the paste and seal the edges carefully.

Bake and finish

  1. Heat some drippings in a tin and place the ham inside, basting thoroughly.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until the paste begins to crack, about 30 minutes per pound plus an additional 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the hard crust and rind from the ham.

  4. Dredge the ham with bread crumbs or glaze it.

  5. Garnish with cloves if desired.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  2. Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,671 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Bread + clovetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,129 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Flour + breadtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,383 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and bread barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 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

Ham
Is the main meat that is cooked and served.
Flour
Forms an elastic paste that encases the ham and protects it during baking.
Water
Hydrates the flour so it forms a workable, elastic paste.
Drippings
Add fat and flavour when basting the ham in the tin.
Bread crumbs
Coat the ham to add a crisp, browned surface.

The step that matters

Sealing the paste around the ham. Edges sealed tightly keep the ham enclosed so moisture stays in during the long bake. Gaps let juices escape and the meat dries out.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, flour, bread):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, flour, bread. 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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