Why it works: Ham and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,516 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
To Bake a Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Soak the ham for 1 hour if not very old, or 2 hours if old.
Wipe the ham dry.
Make a paste with flour and water, about 1 inch thick.
Moisten the edges of the paste and cover the ham, sealing the edges to prevent gravy from escaping.
Bake and serve
Bake in a well-heated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 6 hours, depending on the weight.
Remove the paste and skin while the ham is still hot.
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.
-
Ham + flourtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,516 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
- Ham
- Provides the meat that is slowly cooked and seasoned by its own juices inside the paste.
- Flour for paste
- Forms a sealed dough crust that traps moisture and gravy inside the ham while it bakes.
- Water for paste
- Hydrates the flour so it becomes a pliable dough that can be shaped and sealed around the ham.
The step that matters
Seal the paste edges. If the edges are not moistened and pressed closed, gaps let juices escape during baking, so the ham dries out and the gravy is lost.
“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.
More baked ham recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.