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 ↓
Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash the ham to remove dust and soak it overnight.
In the morning, scrape the ham and place it in a pot with enough cold water to cover it.
Cook and cool
Boil gently for several hours until tender.
Let the ham cool partially in the cooking water.
Finish and brown
Remove the skin carefully and place the ham on a rack in a dripping pan.
Sprinkle the ham generously with fine bread crumbs.
Brown the ham in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few minutes.
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.
-
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the main food; long gentle boiling makes the meat tender and moist.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating on the surface when baked.
The step that matters
Boil gently for several hours until tender. Vigorous boiling toughens and dries the meat and can break its surface, while gentle simmering lets connective tissue soften slowly, keeping the ham tender and juicy.
“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.
More boiled ham recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.