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Ham, Boiled and Baked

A ham is boiled, then baked with bread crumbs, flour, and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ham, Boiled and Baked

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak an old ham in cold water for 5–6 hours before boiling.

  2. Boil the ham for about 4 hours if it is 3–4 months old, or 2.5 hours if it is a year old.

  3. Skim off any froth that rises to the top of the pot.

  4. After boiling until half done, remove the ham from the pot and take off the skin.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the ham in the oven with about 1 quart of water.

  2. Sprinkle the ham with flour and black pepper.

  3. Moisten the crumbled bread with some of the boiling water and cover the ham with it.

  4. Bake the ham until tender, then serve cold.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  2. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Bread + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,383 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Bread and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Main meat, made tender through long soaking and boiling before baking.
Stale rolls or loaf bread
Moistened crumbs form a topping that adds texture to the surface of the ham.
Flour
Dusted on the surface, it helps the exterior brown and form a light crust.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, aromatic seasoning to the surface of the ham.

The step that matters

Boiling time by ham age. Younger hams need longer boiling, while older, more thoroughly cured hams cook faster. Following the time for the ham's age helps keep it tender without drying it out.

“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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