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A Ham Braised

A ham braised in sherry wine, served with greens or beans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and sherry work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 377 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

A Ham Braised

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Trim the ham by cutting off the knuckle and paring the under part.

  2. Place the ham in cold water and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes.

  3. Remove the ham from the water and pull off the skin.

  4. Trim further if needed.

Braise

  1. Put the ham into a braising pan with sherry wine, if using.

  2. Cover the pan tightly.

  3. Braise on low heat for about 2.5 hours, or less for a smaller ham.

Glaze and serve

  1. When ready to serve, remove the ham and trim it.

  2. Place it in the oven for a few minutes to glaze.

  3. Serve with spinach, greens, beans, or coulis underneath.

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. Ham + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Sherry + spinachtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Wine + spinachtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Ham + spinachtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together144 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Ham + winetop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together303 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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, becoming tender and flavourful through long, gentle braising.
Sherry wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the braising liquid, contributing flavour to the ham.

The step that matters

Braise on low heat with the pan tightly covered. Low, steady heat with a sealed lid keeps the liquid from boiling hard and drying out the meat. Slow heat breaks down connective tissue gradually, so the ham turns tender instead of tough and stringy.

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, sherry, wine):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Spinachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, sherry, wine. 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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