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Boiled Ham

A ham boiled, then coated with flour and breadcrumbs, baked, and wrapped in frilled paper with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Boiled Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare and boil

  1. Soak the ham for 4 to 5 hours.

  2. Scrub it well and place it in a pot with plenty of cold water.

  3. Boil for 18 to 20 minutes per pound.

  4. Once cooked, leave it in the water for 1 hour in a cool place.

Coat and bake

  1. Carefully remove the skin and rub the ham all over with flour.

  2. Sift fine bread crumbs over the top and sides.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.

  4. Wrap frilled paper around the shank and tie a wreath of parsley where the paper meets the ham.

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 + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Ham + parsleytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,249 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  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 cut that is cooked, becoming tender and juicy during the long simmer.
Flour
Dries the surface of the ham so the bread crumbs have something to cling to.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on the outside of the ham during baking.

The step that matters

Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes. The coating needs a short, hot bake to brown and crisp. Watch it closely, because the crumbs can scorch quickly at this temperature once the ham is already cooked.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, flour, bread):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe 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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