Why it works: Ham and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,058 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
How to Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Mix the coarse sea salt, saltpetre, and molasses thoroughly in a large container without boiling.
Add enough cold water to cover the hams.
Cure
Pack the hams in a barrel and pour the brine over them.
Weight the hams down with a stone and cover the barrel.
Change the position of the hams weekly for five weeks.
Smoke and store
After five weeks, smoke the hams for three weeks using sawdust, corn-cobs, or green hickory/maple.
Wrap the smoked hams in stiff brown paper and sew them in thick cloth.
Store the hams in a cool, dry place or pack them in barrels with layers of coarse dry salt, powdered charcoal, or clean wood ashes.
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 + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Molasses + peppertop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Ham + molassestop 38% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together55 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- The meat being cured, which the brine penetrates and preserves over the weeks.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the meat and seasons it, slowing spoilage during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the cured ham keep its pink colour and inhibits spoilage bacteria.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and flavour to balance the saltiness of the cure.
The step that matters
Mix the brine without boiling. Salt and saltpetre must dissolve evenly in cold liquid; boiling is not part of this method, and uneven mixing leaves pockets of uncured or over-salted meat.
“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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