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Ham Boiled in Cider

A ham boiled slowly in cider with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ham Boiled in Cider

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the ham thoroughly.

  2. Soak the ham overnight in clear spring water.

Cook

  1. In the morning, place the ham in a porcelain kettle with hot cider.

  2. For added flavor, add a small bag of spices to the boiling cider.

  3. Boil slowly for 5 to 8 hours until thoroughly cooked.

Cool

  1. Cool the ham in the liquid it was boiled in.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Cider + clovetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,683 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Cider + cinnamontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main protein, which becomes tender and fully cooked during the long, slow boil.
Hot cider
Acts as the cooking liquid, adding moisture and a mildly sweet, acidic flavor to the ham.
Spices
Add aroma and warm flavor to the cooking liquid as it simmers.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 5 to 8 hours until thoroughly cooked. Low, gentle heat keeps the ham's muscle fibers tender and the liquid from boiling hard. A rolling boil can toughen the meat and make the outside dry before the center is done.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, cider, clove, cinnamon. 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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