Why it works: Meat and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,866 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
To Salt Bacon and Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the meat
Mix the salt, saltpetre, and sugar well, then dry the mixture by the fire.
Rub the mixture thoroughly into the meat, allowing it to absorb as much as possible.
Place the meat rind down in a cool place.
Cover the meat with the remaining salt, especially around the knuckle of the ham.
Turn the meat over.
Wash the meat in the brine daily for 2 to 3 weeks, depending on thickness.
Dry and store
Hang the meat in a cool place for 1 to 2 days until a dry coat forms on the outside.
Store the bacon and hams in a chest with bran or clean straw.
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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Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,866 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, helping preserve it during curing.
- Powdered saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured meat its characteristic pink colour.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds mild sweetness to the cured flavour.
The step that matters
Washing the meat in the brine daily. The meat must stay evenly submerged in brine for the full 2 to 3 weeks, with timing scaled to thickness. Thick cuts left under-cured can spoil, while salt that is not replenished or evenly distributed leaves the cure uneven.
“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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