Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Soak the ham in cold water for 12 to 24 hours.
Cover the ham with boiling water, then add vinegar, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley.
Boil the ham for 1.5 hours, then remove it and skim the surface.
Trim and bake
Leave a layer of fat about ½ inch thick on the ham and trim off any blackened parts.
Place the ham in a dripping pan, fat side up, and grate bread crust over it.
Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until beautifully browned.
Serve
Serve cold, slicing the best portions; use scraps for sandwiches or mix with 3 eggs and fry for an omelet.
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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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,588 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + thymetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,305 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 of meat that is cooked, soaked, and served.
- Bread crust
- Grated over the fat layer to add a crisp, toasted surface when baked.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity to the boiling liquid that brightens the flavor of the meat.
The step that matters
Baking until beautifully browned. Browning depends on surface heat and sugars, so watch the top closely. Too little heat leaves it pale, while too much can scorch the grated crust and salt before the surface is evenly colored.
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, vinegar, parsley, bread):
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Thymethe original
- Capersfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, vinegar, parsley, bread. 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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