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To Boil a Ham

A large ham is boiled slowly in water, optionally with cloves and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

To Boil a Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and clean the ham in two or three warm waters.

  2. Place the ham in a large pot and cover it with cold water.

Cook

  1. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook slowly for about six hours.

  2. Add water as needed to keep the ham covered.

  3. Check for doneness by piercing with a fork; it should go in easily.

Finish

  1. Remove the ham, skin it, and trim away any dark spots.

  2. Optionally, stick cloves or sprinkle black pepper on the fat surface.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  3. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
Provides the main meat and flavor, and becomes tender through slow simmering.
Water
Gently cooks the ham and keeps it moist throughout the long simmer.

The step that matters

Keep the ham fully covered with water. If the surface is exposed while simmering, those parts dry out and toughen, so water must be topped up as it evaporates.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper. 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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