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Ham , to Cook

A method of cooking a ham with carrots, onion, celery, and water, finished with glaze or baked bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Ham , to Cook

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash, scrape, trim, and clean the ham.

Simmer

  1. Place the ham in a large pot with cold water, carrots, onion, and celery.

  2. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a very slow simmer for 4-5 hours.

  3. If not using hot, let the ham cool in the stock before removing it.

Finish

  1. Skin the ham and cover it with glaze or baked bread crumbs.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 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

Ham
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, slow simmering.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the cooking liquid as it simmers.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma to the simmering stock.
Celery
Contributes aromatic flavor to the simmering stock.

The step that matters

Reduce to a very slow simmer. A rolling boil toughens meat proteins and can make the ham dry and stringy. A gentle simmer lets connective tissue break down slowly, keeping the ham tender and moist.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, celery, bread):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, celery, bread. 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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