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 Boil a Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the ham in lukewarm water to draw out salt and tenderize it, changing the water frequently for 24 hours if older.
Scrape and trim the ham, removing any bad parts.
Place the ham in a large pot with plenty of cold water over a slow fire, allowing it to heat gradually.
Boil
Once it boils, increase the heat and skim the pot, then simmer gently for 4 to 5 hours, depending on the size.
After cooking, remove the ham, strip off the skin, and reserve it.
Finish and serve
Rub the ham with beaten egg and sprinkle with fine bread crumbs.
Brown the ham in the oven or over a hot dish set before the fire.
Garnish with a fringe of writing paper around the shank-bone and serve.
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).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the meat, which is tenderized by soaking and slow simmering until tender.
- Beaten egg
- Acts as a binding glue so the bread crumbs adhere to the surface of the ham.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp coating that browns during the final heating for a golden crust.
The step that matters
Heating the ham gradually in cold water. Starting in cold water and bringing it up slowly lets the meat heat evenly and firm gently, while skimming removes impurities that would cloud the broth and spoil its flavour. Boiling hard from the start can toughen the outer layers and leave the centre undercooked.
“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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