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 ↓
Westphalia Ham, Roasted a LA St. James
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the Westphalia ham according to previous directions and steep it in mirepoix for the allotted time.
Skewer the ham with a large iron skewer and secure it with string to the spit.
Reduce the mirepoix and cover the underside of the ham with it.
Encase and roast
Wrap the ham in oiled cartridge paper, then cover with venison paste.
Cover the paste with greased paper and tie it with string.
Roast the ham before a moderate fire for about 3.5 hours.
Infuse ½ pint of brandy or Malaga wine into the ham through a hole in the paste.
Seal the hole with paste and roast for an additional 20 minutes.
Finish and serve
Carefully remove the ham from the spit and trim it.
Set the ham to dry on a baking sheet in the oven, glaze it, and serve with reserved essence for flavor.
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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Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,173 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Carrot + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,029 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Ham + venisontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Westphalia ham
- Is the main cut being cooked, its long steeping and roasting make it tender and flavorful.
- Mirepoix
- Vegetables steeped and reduced to add aromatic flavor to the ham and its essence.
- Brandy or malaga wine
- Adds aroma and sweetness, infused into the ham through the paste hole during roasting.
- Venison paste
- Flour and water paste that encases the ham, sealing in moisture while it roasts.
The step that matters
Infuse the brandy or Malaga wine through the paste hole. Adding liquid through a small opening in the sealed paste must be done carefully so the ham absorbs it while the paste stays intact, keeping moisture and flavor inside during the final roasting.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, celery, venison, flour, brandy):
- Turnipfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, celery, venison, flour, brandy. 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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