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To Cure Mutton Ham

A method for curing a mutton hind quarter into a ham using saltpetre, salt, sugar, spices, and smoking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Cure Mutton Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Cut the hind quarter of mutton into the shape of a ham.

  2. Pound the saltpetre with the coarse sea salt and brown sugar.

  3. Rub the ham well with this mixture, stuffing the shank hole with salt and sugar.

  4. Let it lie for two weeks, rubbing it with the pickle every two to three days.

  5. After two weeks, take it out and press it with a weight for one day.

Smoke or dry

  1. Smoke it with sawdust for 10 to 15 days or hang it to dry in the kitchen.

  2. If boiling soon after smoking, soak it for one hour; if smoked longer, soak for several hours.

Boil and serve

  1. Put it in cold water and boil gently for two hours.

  2. Serve cold for breakfast, luncheon, or supper.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. White pepper + clovetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together752 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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

Mutton hind quarter
Forms the meat that becomes the ham once cured, smoked and boiled.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its pink colour and slows spoilage during curing.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, firming it as it cures.
Brown sugar
Balances the salt with sweetness and helps keep the meat moist.

The step that matters

Soaking after smoking or drying. Cured meat is very salty and dry, so soaking before boiling draws out surplus salt. Soaking longer suits meat that was smoked or dried for longer, since it has taken on more salt and smoke.

Swap the white pepper

The recipe marks white pepper as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, sugar, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, sugar, clove, nutmeg. 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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