Why it works: Ham and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,516 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
To Bake a Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Soak the ham for 1 hour if it's not very old, or 2 hours if it is.
Wipe the ham dry and cover it with a paste about 1 inch thick.
Moisten the edges of the paste and press them together to seal.
Bake and serve
Bake the ham in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 6 hours, depending on its weight.
Once done, remove the paste and then the skin while the ham is still hot.
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 + flourtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,516 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the main protein, and its long slow cooking makes it tender and moist.
- Flour paste
- Forms a sealed crust that traps moisture inside the ham as it bakes.
The step that matters
Sealing the paste around the ham. Moistening the edges and pressing them together closes gaps so steam and juices stay inside. A loose seal lets the ham dry out over the long bake.
“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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