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To Cure Hams As Practiced in Virginia

This recipe describes a method for curing hams using salt, sugar or molasses, saltpetre, and brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,866 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

To Cure Hams As Practiced in Virginia

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cure

  1. Mix the salt, brown sugar (or molasses), and powdered saltpetre together.

Cure the hams

  1. Rub each ham with the mixture and pack them in a cask or tub.

  2. Let them sit for 5 to 6 days.

  3. Turn the hams and sprinkle a little salt on them.

  4. Let them sit for another 5 to 6 days.

  5. Add brine strong enough to float an egg and cover the hams with it.

  6. Let them sit in the brine for a month before transferring to the smoke-house.

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. Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Fine salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it, while seasoning the ham.
Brown sugar or molasses
Adds sweetness and flavour that balances the salt.
Powdered saltpetre
Helps keep the meat's pink colour and inhibits spoilage during long curing.

The step that matters

Adding the brine. The brine must be strong enough to float an egg, meaning it is saturated enough to draw moisture and salt into the hams evenly. Weak brine may fail to preserve the meat, while the hams must stay fully submerged for the whole curing period.

“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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