Why it works: Sugar and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,084 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Fitzsimon Family Receipt for Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the ham
Mix saltpetre, common salt, and coarse brown sugar together.
Rub the mixture well into the ham.
Let the ham sit in the pickle for one month, turning and basting it daily.
Smoke and store
Hang the ham in wood smoke in a dry place, avoiding heat.
For long-term storage, hang it in a damp place for one to two months.
Soak and boil
Before boiling, soak the ham in cold water for 3 to 4 hours, skimming the pot often until it boils.
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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Sugar + hamtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and keep its pink color.
- Common salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat, preserving it and seasoning it throughout.
- Coarse brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the cure.
The step that matters
Soaking the ham before boiling. Soaking in cold water for 3 to 4 hours draws out surplus salt from the long cure. Skipping or shortening the soak can leave the finished ham too salty.
“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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