Why it works: Molasses and corn work together. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 644 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Hang the hams for 7 to 10 days in a cool, dry place.
Mix the salt, molasses, and saltpetre in a bowl.
Rub the mixture thoroughly into the hams, focusing on the bones and recesses.
Repeat the rubbing process until all the mixture is used.
Let the hams rest for 2 to 3 days.
Brine and soak
Submerge the hams in brine for 3 weeks.
Soak the hams in cold water for 8 hours.
Dry, smoke and store
Hang the hams to dry in a cool place for at least a week.
Smoke the hams for 3 to 5 days, keeping them cool.
Store the hams in bags for the summer.
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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Molasses + corntop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together644 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + corntop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 out moisture and preserves the meat by slowing bacterial growth.
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and gives it a pink cured colour.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavour that balances the saltiness.
- Corn cobs or apple-tree wood
- Provides the smoky aroma and flavour during smoking.
The step that matters
Rubbing the cure thoroughly into the hams. The salt and saltpetre must reach deep into the bones and recesses, where meat is most likely to spoil if the cure does not penetrate evenly.
“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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