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 ↓
A Genuine Yorkshire Receipt for Curing Hams and Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pig
Fast the swine for 24 hours before killing.
After killing and scalding, hang the pig for 12 hours before cutting.
Cure the meat
Rub the sugar and saltpetre into the fleshy parts of the pork.
Remove any extravasated blood and broken vessels with a fork.
Apply salt to the fleshy parts, shank ends of the hams, and any other areas.
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.
-
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
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and slows spoilage, which preserves it.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured pork its characteristic pink colour.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the harshness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cured flavour.
The step that matters
Rub the sugar and saltpetre into the fleshy parts of the pork. The cure must reach every thick, fleshy area. Spots that get little cure can spoil, and uneven salting leaves the meat preserved unevenly, so coverage needs to be thorough.
“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.
More ham curing recipes
You might also like
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipes
Meat Cakes35 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.