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Ham Cooked in Cider

A ham is soaked, boiled, and baked with cider, water, cloves, bread crumbs, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Ham Cooked in Cider

Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham Cooked in Cider

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the ham

  1. Scrub and soak the ham in cold water.

  2. Heat the ham slowly in a small kettle until boiling.

  3. Drain and cover the ham with equal parts cider and water, then boil slowly until almost tender.

Trim and glaze

  1. Remove the ham from the kettle, loosen the skin, and cut it off halfway.

  2. Trim the skin into long points and stick whole cloves into the edges.

  3. Cover the exposed fat with a mixture of fine bread crumbs and brown sugar.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

  2. Garnish with parsley and enclose the small end bone in a paper frill.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  2. Cider + clovetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,683 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Clove + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,129 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Cider + breadtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar-cured ham
Main cut of meat; soaking and slow simmering make it tender and less salty.
Cider
Adds acidity and fruity aroma to the simmering liquid that flavours the ham.
Brown sugar
Caramelises in the oven, adding sweetness and a browned crust over the fat.
Fine bread crumbs
Combine with sugar to form a crust that helps the surface brown while baking.

The step that matters

Boil slowly until almost tender. A gentle simmer cooks the ham evenly without toughening the muscle fibres; a hard boil can make the outside dry and stringy before the centre is done.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ham, cider, bread):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ham, cider, 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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