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Cueing Hams

A method for curing hams using salt, molasses, saltpetre, brine, and smoking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,879 recipes. The science ↓

Cueing Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Hang the hams for 7 to 10 days in a cool, dry place.

  2. Mix salt, molasses, and saltpetre in a bowl.

  3. Heat the mixture and rub it into the hams, focusing on the bones and recesses.

  4. Repeat the rubbing process until the mixture is used up.

  5. Let the hams sit for 2 to 3 days.

  6. Submerge the hams in brine for 3 weeks.

Dry and smoke

  1. Soak the hams in cold water for 8 hours.

  2. Hang the hams to dry in a cool place for at least a week.

  3. Smoke the hams for 3 to 5 days, keeping them cool.

  4. Store the hams in bags for summer.

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. Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,879 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it against spoilage.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives the cured hams their characteristic colour.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and flavour to the cure and helps balance the salt.

The step that matters

Rubbing the cure into the hams. Salt and saltpetre must reach the bones and deep recesses, where meat can spoil first. Heating the mixture helps it spread, and repeated rubbing ensures even penetration throughout the cure.

“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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