Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
To Dress Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the ham
Soak the ham in water for 24 hours if it has been hung long, or 12 hours if it has only hung a few months.
Wash and brush the ham well.
Cook and finish
Place the ham in a pot of water and simmer for 3 to 5 hours, depending on its size.
Remove the skin carefully after boiling; it helps keep the ham moist.
Dredge the ham with bread crumbs or raspings and sprinkle with black pepper.
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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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 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 substance of the dish, cooked slowly in water until tender.
- Bread crumbs or raspings
- Form a dry, lightly crisp coating on the outside of the ham.
The step that matters
Remove the skin carefully after boiling. The skin protects the meat while it simmers and helps hold in moisture. Removing it with care avoids tearing the flesh and drying the surface before the coating is added.
“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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