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Baked Ham

A ham baked with a flour paste, wrapped in paper, glazed, and topped with brown crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,516 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Baked Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham in water for 12 hours, or 24 hours if thoroughly matured, changing the water twice.

  2. Scrub the ham in warm water.

  3. Dry the ham well.

  4. Make a thick paste with flour and water.

  5. Cover the ham entirely with the paste.

  6. Wrap the ham in well-greased white paper.

  7. Secure the paper with tape or string.

Bake and finish

  1. Place the ham in a moderately hot oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cook the ham for 5 hours.

  3. Remove the paper and paste.

  4. Pull off the skin.

  5. Trim the ham.

  6. Brush the ham over.

  7. Glaze the ham.

  8. Scatter brown crumbs thickly on top.

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 + flourtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,516 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

Ham
Is the main meat, whose long soak and slow cook make it tender and gently seasoned.
Flour
Forms a thick paste that seals the ham and shields its surface from drying in the oven.
Water
Soaks and rinses the ham, drawing out excess salt and softening the meat before cooking.

The step that matters

Wrapping the ham in the flour paste and greased paper. The paste must cover the ham entirely and the paper must be well greased and secured, so the ham stays moist during the long bake and the paper does not stick when removed.

“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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