Why it works: Ham and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,058 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Plain Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the ham overnight in cold water.
Boil
Boil the ham in enough water to cover it, adding the dried red pepper or whole cloves and peppercorns.
Cook for 20 minutes per pound.
Finish and serve
After cooking, remove the skin.
Optionally, add spots of pepper on the fat after skinning.
Serve hot or let it cool in the cooking water.
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 + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the main cooked meat, so its size sets the cooking time.
- Dried red pepper or whole cloves
- Adds aromatic spice flavour to the cooking water, which the ham absorbs.
- Whole peppercorns
- Adds mild, sharp aroma to the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Keeping the ham covered and simmering for the full time. The ham must stay submerged in water so it cooks evenly, and cooking time depends on weight, so an undersized estimate leaves the centre underdone. Boiling too hard can toughen the meat, so a gentle simmer is best.
“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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