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To Dress Hams

A method for curing and seasoning hams with salt, herbs, and aromatics.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and laurel are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,516 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Dress Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham in soft water for 16 hours if old; no soaking needed for green ham.

  2. Wrap the ham in a linen bag and let it mellow for 2-3 days in a cool place.

  3. Wash and brush the ham well.

Cook and finish

  1. Simmer the ham in a boiler of water for 3.5 to 5 hours, depending on its size.

  2. Boil cloves, bay leaves, laurel leaves, and herbs with the ham for added flavor.

  3. Remove the skin carefully to keep the ham moist.

  4. Strew raspings over the ham and garnish with sliced carrot.

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 + laureltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + laureltop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,780 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Ham + carrottop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main item cooked and served, its flesh becoming tender through long gentle simmering.
Coarse sea salt
Cures the ham by drawing out moisture and seasoning the meat deeply.
Raspings
Forms a crumb coating over the ham's surface.

The step that matters

Remove the skin carefully to keep the ham moist.. Skin and the fat beneath it hold moisture in the meat during simmering, so removing it gently helps avoid tearing the flesh and drying the surface.

“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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