Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Baked Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the ham
Wash the ham thoroughly and scrape off any mold.
Place the ham in a large pot and cover with cold water. Heat until nearly boiling.
Pour off the water, wash, and scrape the ham again to remove any remaining dark mold.
Fill the pot with cold water again and bring to a boil. If the ham is not very salty, you may not need to change the water.
After a few minutes, test the ham for saltiness. If needed, change the water and boil until about two-thirds cooked.
Remove the skin from the ham.
Season and bake
In a bowl, mix sugar and black pepper. Rub this mixture into the ham.
Optionally, insert cloves and cinnamon into the ham before adding the crumbs for extra flavor.
Sprinkle the ham evenly with bread crumbs or crushed crackers.
Bake the ham in a pan without water, using a wire rack to elevate it, at 300°F (150°C) until the surface is a rich brown, about 30 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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Pepper + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,890 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Provides the main meat; boiling first reduces its saltiness and removes surface mold.
- Sugar
- Caramelizes on the surface during baking, adding sweetness and rich browning.
- Bread crumbs or crushed crackers
- Forms a crisp, browned crust on the outside of the ham.
The step that matters
Testing and adjusting the saltiness before baking. Ham cured in salt can be too salty to eat. Testing after a few minutes of boiling shows whether the water needs changing, and boiling until about two-thirds cooked before glazing keeps the ham from becoming over-salted in the final dish.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, sugar, pepper, bread, clove):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Allspicefits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Marjoramfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, sugar, pepper, bread, clove. 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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