Why it works: Ham and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,084 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Westphalia Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Rub the ham well with saltpetre and brown sugar.
The next day, place the ham in a pot with strong water.
Simmer for four to five hours, ensuring it does not boil.
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.
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Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- The main cut that the cure penetrates and the gentle simmer cooks until tender.
- Powdered saltpetre
- Cures the meat, helping preserve it and give it a pink color.
- Coarse brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and mild molasses flavor that balances the salt in the cure.
The step that matters
Simmer without boiling. Boiling makes the meat's proteins contract hard and turn tough and dry. A gentle simmer lets the ham cook slowly and stay tender and juicy over the four to five hours.
“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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