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Pork Hams

A pork hind‑quarter cured with saltpetre, sugar, salt, and sal prunella, then smoked and boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,579 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Pork Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the ham

  1. Cut a fine ham from the hind-quarter of pork.

  2. Mix saltpetre, coarse sugar, common salt, and sal prunella together.

  3. Rub the mixture well on the ham.

  4. Let the ham sit in the pickle for one month.

  5. Turn and baste the ham daily.

  6. Hang the ham in wood smoke in a dry place, avoiding heat.

  7. If storing long-term, hang it in a damp place for one to two months to develop mold.

Soak and boil

  1. Do not soak the ham in water until boiling.

  2. Place the ham in a large pot with cold water.

  3. Let it sit for four to five hours before boiling.

  4. Skim the pot frequently until it boils.

  5. Boil for two to three hours depending on size.

  6. Remove the ham half an hour before serving.

Finish and serve

  1. Peel off the skin.

  2. Sift raspings over it.

  3. Hold a red-hot fire-shovel over the ham before serving.

  4. Sift additional raspings over the dish.

  5. Make decorative figures around the edge.

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. Pork + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,579 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork hind-quarter
Forms the ham itself, providing the lean and fat meat that the cure and boil act upon.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives cured ham its characteristic pink colour.
Coarse sugar
Balances the salt and adds sweetness and flavour to the cured meat.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and preserves the meat during the cure.
Sal prunella
Acts as an additional curing agent that supports preservation of the meat.

The step that matters

Soaking before boiling. Soaking the cured ham in cold water for several hours draws out excess salt and saltpetre. Skimming as the pot heats removes foam and impurities, keeping the broth clean and the meat tender.

“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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