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Ham, Boast, Cold

It is very necessary that the ham be carefully washed; any lusty parts must be removed, as the least trace of such will spoil the dish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Wine and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,759 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham, Boast, Cold

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cook the ham as directed for Ham, Roast A La Crawshawe, using only half the quantity of wine for basting.

  2. Remove any excess fat and smooth the surface of the ham.

  3. Set the ham aside until cold, then lightly glaze it.

  4. Once the glaze is set, pour over some pale pink aspic and let it firm up.

  5. Trim the edges and place the ham on a clean dish surrounded by dressed watercress.

  6. Garnish with pink and yellow aspic in fancy blocks and small whole tomatoes.

  7. Add a frill around the knuckle of the ham and garnish the top with Ham Butter and Egg Butter, forming a design.

  8. Serve with a nice salad, preferably a fruit salad.

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. Wine + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Watercress + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together158 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

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

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, wine, watercress, butter, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, wine, watercress, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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