Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Ham, Cured
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the hams
Rub the hams well with coarse sea salt and let them drain for 3 days.
Dry the hams, then mix the salt, moist sugar, and saltpetre.
Rub the hams thoroughly with this mixture and place them in a deep pan, skin side down.
Turn and baste the hams daily for a month, pouring a bottle of vinegar over them after 3 days.
Dry and hang
Drain and dry the hams well, and if smoking, hang them high to prevent fat from melting.
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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hams
- The main meat, which the cure penetrates and firms over the curing period.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping preserve it during curing.
- Moist sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds mild sweetness and flavour to the cured surface.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the cure keep its pink colour and inhibits spoilage-causing bacteria during long curing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps flavour the cure and supports preservation during basting.
The step that matters
Turning and basting daily for a month. Salt and cure must reach evenly through the thick meat over time. Skipping turns or basting lets the cure settle unevenly and can leave parts underseasoned or spoiled, so the hams need steady attention throughout.
“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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