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Wild Boar Ham

A wild boar ham marinated in vinegar, wine, sage, salt, and cayenne, then roasted and glazed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Wild Boar Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Singe off the bristles of the ham.

  2. Wash the ham in lukewarm water.

  3. Saw off the bone two inches below the knuckle.

  4. Marinate the ham in equal parts vinegar and water, light wine, sage, salt, and cayenne for 8 days.

  5. Drain the ham.

  6. Wipe the ham dry.

Roast and finish

  1. Cover the ham with oil-soaked paper.

  2. Roast the ham before a clear fire.

  3. Baste the ham with marinade every 15 minutes.

  4. Remove the paper and rind when done.

  5. Brush the ham with liquid glaze or cover with bread crumbs.

  6. Place a paper frill around the knuckle.

  7. Serve with venison sauce or strained marinade gravy.

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. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sage + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Wine + sagetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Vinegar + sagetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together618 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Wild boar ham
Provides the meat that is slowly roasted and served as the main dish.
Vinegar
Acidity in the marinade tenderises the meat and adds a sharp flavour.
Light wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the marinade, supporting flavour penetration into the meat.
Sage
Contributes herbal aroma to the marinade that carries into the roasted meat.

The step that matters

Basting the ham with marinade every 15 minutes. Regular basting keeps the surface moist during long roasting, and the marinade's sugars and proteins help build browning and flavour on the outside. Letting the surface dry out can leave the meat tough and dull.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, vinegar, wine, bread):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Sagethe original

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

“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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