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A ham boiled with onions, carrots, cloves, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, parsley, white wine, and hay, served with jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Scrape the outside of the ham gently.

  2. Soak the ham in cold water for 2 days in winter or 1 day in summer, changing the water twice.

  3. Hang the ham in a cool, dry place to allow excess water to drip off.

  4. Wrap the ham in a towel and secure it with string.

Boil

  1. Place the ham in a large kettle and add onions, carrots, cloves, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, parsley, white wine, and hay.

  2. Cover with water and boil gently for 4 to 5 hours, depending on size.

  3. Remove from heat and let the ham cool in the water.

  4. Once cool, hang the ham to allow more water to drip off.

Finish and serve

  1. Before serving, skin the ham within 2 inches of the smaller end and sprinkle with fine bread crumbs.

  2. Serve with jelly around it.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar-cured ham
Is the main cut being prepared, and its curing gives the meat its flavour and colour.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the cooking liquid, flavouring the ham as it simmers.
Onions
Release sweetness and aroma into the cooking liquid, flavouring the ham.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the cooking liquid, flavouring the ham.

The step that matters

Boil gently for 4 to 5 hours. A gentle simmer cooks the ham evenly and keeps the meat tender. A hard rolling boil toughens the muscle fibres and can make the outside overcook before the centre is done.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ham, carrot, clove, thyme, garlic, parsley):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ham, carrot, clove, thyme, garlic, parsley. 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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