Why it works: Ham and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry 3-methylbutanol, which smells malty, whiskey. The science ↓
Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the ham for 8 hours, scrubbing it with a stiff brush to remove salt and dirt.
Cover the ham with cold water and add 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
Cook
Heat the water gradually; it should not reach boiling after the first hour.
Simmer gently for 4 to 5 hours.
Allow 20 minutes per pound for corned ham.
Allow 25 minutes per pound for smoked ham.
Cool and finish
Let the ham cool in the liquid until almost cold, then remove the skin.
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 + vinegartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the main cut being cooked, so its size and type set the cooking time.
- Vinegar
- Acidity helps loosen surface salt and dirt during the initial soak and cover water.
The step that matters
Heat the water gradually. If the water reaches a rolling boil too quickly, the meat's outer layers toughen and fibers contract, leaving the ham dry and stringy. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer cooks it evenly and keeps it tender and juicy.
“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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