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Ham with Madeira

A ham braised with Madeira wine, vegetables, and spices, finished with a reduced sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ham with Madeira

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Blanch the ham in water for 2 hours.

  2. Drain the ham and place it in a braising pan lined with thin slices of veal.

  3. Add seasoned carrots, onions, parsley, bay leaves, and spices.

Braise

  1. Pour 2 cups of rich consomme and 1 bottle of Madeira over the ham.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 hours.

  3. Skim off the fat from the cooking liquid.

  4. Reduce the liquid to make an Espagnole sauce.

  5. Trim the ham immediately after boiling before serving.

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

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

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

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

  5. Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Westmoreland ham
Is the main cut that is blanched and then braised until tender.
Rich consomme
Adds savory meat flavor and moisture to the braising liquid.
Madeira wine
Adds sweetness and aroma, and its reduced liquid forms the base of the sauce.
Veal
Lines the pan to add gelatin and savory depth to the braising liquid.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Skim off the fat from the cooking liquid. Fat that is left in the liquid can make the reduced sauce greasy and heavy, so removing it before reducing keeps the sauce clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, carrot, parsley, madeira wine):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, carrot, parsley, madeira wine. 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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