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Braized and Baked Hams

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and sherry work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 377 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Braized and Baked Hams

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Simmer the ham gently for 5 to 6 hours, probing occasionally after 4 hours to check tenderness.

  2. Once tender, let it rest in its own juices for 1 hour, then drain it.

  3. Remove the rind, leaving 4 inches near the bone, and create a decorative design with a sharp knife.

  4. Trim the fat for a neat appearance, then place the ham on a baking sheet.

  5. Absorb excess grease with a clean cloth, then glaze the ham and bake for 10 minutes.

  6. Glaze again and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

  7. Serve garnished with dressed vegetables and sauce made from Espagnole sauce, sherry, and braising liquid.

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. Ham + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Sherry + spinachtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Sauce + spinachtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together756 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,314 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + sherrytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, sauce, sherry):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Spinachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, sauce, sherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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