Name: Ham Ham with Madeira
Ingredients: 1 small fresh North of England ham; water; bread crumbs; Madeira wine; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')

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 Ham with Madeira

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

If the ham is briny, soak it in water for a few hours.
Trim off the knuckle or bone if desired.
Simmer the ham in water for 1 hour.
Drain the ham and remove the skin.
Cover the ham with bread crumbs and pour Madeira wine over it.
Place the ham in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) to brown and crisp.
Garnish with greens or serve with dressed Windsor beans.

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.

Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ham + madeira winetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together154 recipes
Bread + madeira winetop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together119 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).