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Boiled Ham

A ham boiled in water, served with pepper or dry mustard and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the ham in water overnight.

  2. The next morning, wash it hard with a coarse cloth or stiff brush.

  3. Place the ham in a pot with plenty of cold water.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil for 15 minutes per pound, avoiding a rapid boil.

  2. Do not remove the skin until the ham is cold for easier peeling.

  3. Serve with dots of pepper or dry mustard on top, garnished with parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

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

  5. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 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 main protein, which firms and becomes tender as it cooks gently in water.

The step that matters

Boil for 15 minutes per pound, avoiding a rapid boil. A rolling boil toughens the meat's proteins and can split the skin and fibres. Gentle simmering keeps the ham tender and juicy while it heats through.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, parsley. 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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