Why it works: Ham and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,058 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim and wash the ham in clean, soapy water until thoroughly cleansed.
Soak the ham in cold water for 30 minutes.
Cook and serve
Parboil the ham for 1 hour, then change the water.
Boil the ham until fully cooked, adding red pepper or black pepper.
Remove the skin and serve cold.
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 + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the main ingredient, cooked whole by boiling until fully cooked and tender.
- Red pepper or black pepper
- Adds a sharp, spicy aroma and flavour to the cooking water.
The step that matters
Parboil and change the water. The first boil draws out salt, smoke and impurities from the ham. Discarding that water before the final boil keeps the cooked meat cleaner-tasting and less salty.
“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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