Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the ham in a large pot and cover it with water.
Add coarse sea salt to the water.
Cook
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook the ham for several hours until tender.
Finish
Remove the ham from the pot and let it cool before slicing.
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
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender as it cooks slowly in simmering water.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the ham is flavoured as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer gently rather than boil hard. A rolling boil toughens the meat fibres and can make the outside stringy, while a gentle simmer lets connective tissue break down slowly, keeping the ham tender and moist.
“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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