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Hams, Cured

This recipe describes curing a 10‑12 lb ham with salt, sugar, saltpetre, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Hams, Cured

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the ham well with common salt and let it drain for 1-2 days.

Cure

  1. Rub in the sugar, salt, saltpetre, and vinegar in the specified proportions.

  2. Turn the ham regularly during the curing process.

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

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

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

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

  3. Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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 preserves.
Salt
Draws out moisture and slows spoilage while seasoning the meat.
Sugar
Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness and flavour.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives cured ham its characteristic pink colour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and a tangy flavour to the cure.

The step that matters

Turn the ham regularly during the curing process. Salt and other cure ingredients penetrate the meat slowly from the outside in. Turning the ham spreads the brine that collects beneath it and helps the cure reach every part evenly, reducing spoiled or unevenly cured areas.

“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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