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Ham Cooked in Cider

Ham cooked slowly in cider and brown sugar, then baked with cider and sugar, served with a cider sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Ham Cooked in Cider

Why it works: Cider and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,234 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Ham Cooked in Cider

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham overnight in cold water to cover it completely.

  2. Trim the ham and place it in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover.

Simmer

  1. Add 1 pint of cider and 1 teacup of brown sugar, cover, and boil slowly for 4 hours until the skin peels off easily.

  2. Remove the ham from the water, take off the skin, and place it in a dripping pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour in 1 pint of cider, sprinkle with brown sugar, and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with the cider.

  2. After cooking, remove the ham from the pan, strain the cider to remove grease, season lightly with pepper, and serve as a sauce for the ham.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cider + peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,234 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Ham + cidertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together83 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main cut that is softened by long soaking and slow simmering before baking.
Cider
Adds moisture and acidity, and its liquid is basted over the ham and reduced into a sauce.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during baking and glazing.

The step that matters

Slow boil until the skin peels easily. Boiling gently for the full 4 hours lets collagen in the ham soften so the skin releases cleanly. A hard boil can toughen the meat and break the skin unevenly.

“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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