Skip to main content
Main

Sam, Baked

A 10-pound ham baked with a thick sago paste glaze.

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

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Sam, Baked

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

  1. Soak the ham in cold water for 8 to 24 hours, depending on saltiness.

  2. Wash the ham in lukewarm water and trim away any discolored parts.

  3. Mix flour and water to make a thick paste.

  4. Cover the ham completely with the paste.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake the ham in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Remove the paste while the ham is still hot.

  3. Glaze and garnish.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Clove + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,671 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Ham + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
The main cut, which soaking and trimming prepare for baking and serving.
Flour
Forms a thick paste that shields the ham and helps keep its moisture during baking.
Ground cloves
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the ham.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, aromatic bite to the ham.

The step that matters

Remove the paste while the ham is still hot. Flour paste hardens and bonds to the surface as it cools, so it is much harder to peel off later. Removing it while hot lets it come away more cleanly from the ham.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pepper, flour):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, flour. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes