Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Boiled 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 the ham
Soak the ham overnight in cold water; if very hard, soak for 24 hours; if freshly cured, soak for 10-15 minutes.
Scrape, trim, and wash the ham in cold water.
Place the ham in a pot and cover it with cold water; cover the pot.
Boil the ham
Boil gently for 30 minutes, removing the scum as it rises.
Pour off the water and refill with boiling water to cover the ham; add the vinegar and cover.
Boil gently until done, turning the ham several times.
Once cooked, remove the ham and let it cool enough to handle; carefully peel off the skin without tearing the fat.
Glaze and bake
Rub brown sugar into the fat and stick whole cloves into the sugared fat, about 2 inches apart.
Place the ham in a dry baking pan and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until light brown.
Serve
Serve hot or cold; if serving cold, let it cool completely before slicing.
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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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,386 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,666 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together17,182 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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
- Is the main cut that is softened, cooked through, and then browned at the surface.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity to the cooking liquid that lightly flavours the meat.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the fat surface brown during baking.
The step that matters
Boil gently until done. Vigorous boiling toughens the meat and can make the outer fat break apart, so keep the water at a gentle simmer and turn the ham so it cooks evenly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, vinegar, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, vinegar, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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