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Boiled Ham

A ham boiled until tender, then baked and glazed with sugar, egg yolk, crackers, and sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Boiled Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Pour boiling water over the ham.

  2. Scrape and wash the ham clean.

  3. Place the ham in a pot and cover it with cold water.

Simmer

  1. Bring the water to a boil.

  2. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 3 to 4 hours until tender.

  3. Turn the ham once or twice in the water while cooking.

Skin and bake

  1. Remove the ham and place it in a baking pan to skin it.

  2. Dip your hands in cold water and peel the skin off like an orange.

  3. Bake the ham in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour to remove excess fat.

Glaze and brown

  1. Sprinkle the ham with sugar.

  2. Pass a hot knife over the ham.

  3. Brush the ham with the egg yolk.

  4. Sprinkle the ham with grated crackers or bread crumbs.

  5. Cover the ham with sweet cream.

  6. Return the ham to the oven to brown.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main cut that is cooked slowly until tender and then finished in the oven.
Egg yolk
Brushed on the surface to help the crumb coating stick and brown richly.
Grated crackers or bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust on the surface of the ham.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness to the surface as the ham browns.
Sugar
Sweetens the surface and helps it caramelize and brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Simmer gently. A gentle simmer lets the ham become tender without the muscle fibers toughening and the surface breaking apart. A hard boil can make the meat tough and dry.

“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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