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Boiled Ham

A ham that is boiled, then roasted with sugar and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Boiled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the boiled ham in cold water overnight.

  2. Scrape the ham and clean it well.

  3. Place the ham in a large pot and cover the pot with cold water.

Simmer

  1. Simmer the ham slowly.

  2. Add water to keep the ham covered while cooking.

  3. Remove the ham from the pot.

Finish and bake

  1. Trim the ham thoroughly.

  2. Place the ham in a roasting pan and sprinkle the ham with sugar.

  3. Add 1 teacup of vinegar.

  4. Put the ham in the oven to brown and baste the ham often.

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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

  3. Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Boiled ham
Is the main cut that is soaked, simmered, and then browned.
Sugar
Sweetens the surface and helps the ham brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Keep the ham covered while simmering. If the ham is exposed to air while cooking, the top dries out and toughens. Keeping it submerged with added water keeps it moist and evenly cooked.

“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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