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Easter Ham

A smoked ham stuffed with cabbage sprouts, celery, cloves, melted sugar, and breadcrumbs, then boiled and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,840 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Easter 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 the ham

  1. Make pockets in the smoked ham.

  2. Chop the cabbage sprouts and celery finely.

  3. Skin the ham.

  4. Stuff the pockets with the chopped mixture.

  5. Put the skin back on.

  6. Tie the ham in a bag that fits it.

Boil and finish

  1. Boil the ham for 2½ hours.

  2. Remove the ham from the bag.

  3. Take off the skin.

  4. Insert the cloves into the top of the ham.

  5. Baste with melted sugar.

  6. Sprinkle fine breadcrumbs over it.

  7. Place in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until lightly browned.

  8. Serve with cabbage sprouts or cauliflower.

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. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Cabbage + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Ham + celerytop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked ham
Forms the main body of the dish and supplies the savory, smoky flavor.
Melted sugar
Caramelizes in the oven, adding sweetness and a browned, glossy surface.
Fine breadcrumbs
Form a crust on the surface that browns in the oven, adding texture.
Cabbage sprouts
Chopped and stuffed into the pockets, adding moisture and a vegetal flavor.

The step that matters

Place in the oven until lightly browned. Sugar and breadcrumbs brown quickly at high heat, so the surface can scorch before the ham is heated through. Watch the color closely and keep the ham covered or moved lower if it darkens too fast.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, celery, clove, sugar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, celery, clove, 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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