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Ham Boiled in Wine

A ham is boiled in water, then simmered in wine and optionally browned with brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and wine work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 303 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham Boiled in Wine

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Boil the ham in clear water for 1 hour or more, depending on its size.

  2. Remove the ham from the water, rub it with a clean cloth, and remove the skin.

Simmer in wine

  1. Place the ham in a kettle and pour wine over it, covering it closely.

  2. Boil steadily for 1 hour.

Brown and finish

  1. For browning, sprinkle brown sugar over the ham and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes.

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 + winetop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together303 recipes

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

  2. Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

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

  3. Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,084 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
The main meat, which becomes tender and absorbs flavor as it simmers in the wine.
Wine
Adds moisture and flavor to the ham as it simmers, and its acidity helps tenderize the meat.
Brown sugar
Caramelizes in the hot oven, giving the surface a browned color and a sweet, rich crust.

The step that matters

Sprinkling and baking the brown sugar. Brown sugar caramelizes quickly at high oven heat, so it can scorch if left too long. Watching the surface keeps it golden rather than burnt.

“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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