Why it works: Venison and ham work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Venison Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Trim the venison ham into a good shape.
Rub the ham with a mixture of sugar and salt in equal parts.
For better color, mix 2 ounces of finely rolled saltpetre with the sugar and salt.
Repeat this process every other day for 8 to 10 days.
While the ham is still moist, dust it with clean wheat bran.
Dry and serve
If desired, smoke or dry the ham according to your preference.
Serve the dried venison raw, cut into very thin pieces across the grain.
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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Venison + hamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Venison + wheattop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together36 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Sugar + wheattop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,071 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Ham + wheattop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison ham
- Forms the meat that is cured, dried and sliced thinly for serving.
- Sugar
- Balances the saltiness and softens the harshness of the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the meat keep a rosy color during curing.
The step that matters
Repeating the salt and sugar rub every other day. Salt must penetrate evenly through the thick ham over many days. Uneven or skipped rubbing lets the centre spoil or stay damp, so the cure does not preserve the meat properly.
“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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