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To Dress a Ham

Ham simmered in stale ale or cider with vinegar and herbs, then finished in oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

To Dress a Ham

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.

Prepare the liquid

  1. In a large pot, combine the stale ale or cider, vinegar, and sweet herbs.

Cook and finish

  1. Add the ham and simmer until it is two-thirds cooked.

  2. Remove the ham, skin it, and cover it with raspings.

  3. Place the ham in a 400°F (200°C) oven until fully cooked.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Winter savory + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together780 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Marjoram + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together455 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

Stale ale or cider
Adds acidity and malty flavour to the simmering liquid that penetrates the ham.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that tenderises the ham and sharpens the overall flavour.
Sweet herbs
Contribute aroma and savoury flavour to the braising liquid.
Ham
Main protein that absorbs flavour from the liquid while gently cooking.
Raspings
Form a crisp, browned crust when the ham is baked.

The step that matters

Simmer the ham only until two-thirds cooked. Cooking the ham fully in the liquid would make it stringy and waterlogged. Finishing it in dry oven heat keeps the texture firm and lets the crumb coating brown.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, marjoram, winter savory, thyme, parsley, ham):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, marjoram, winter savory, thyme, parsley, ham. 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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