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Hams, Bacon, Tongues, Sausages &C.

Contains saltpetre, which may pose food safety concerns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Hams, Bacon, Tongues, Sausages &C.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Hang the ham for 2-3 days before salting.

  2. Beat the ham with a rolling pin or thick stick.

  3. Mix salt, sugar, saltpetre, and vinegar; warm the mixture.

  4. Rub the ham thoroughly with the mixture.

  5. Place the ham in a suitable pan and cover with remaining salt; let it sit for 2 days.

  6. Turn the ham, rub it with brine, and baste it several times daily for a month (3 weeks for a small ham).

  7. After brining, drain and wash off the salt with cold water.

  8. Dry the ham with a cloth and rub black pepper inside and at the knuckle.

  9. Hang the ham in a chimney for a month or send it to a baker to dry.

  10. Once hard, store in a chest covered with dry sawdust, malt-dust, or bran until the day before cooking.

  11. Soak the ham in cold water before dressing.

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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

  4. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

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