Why it works: Ham and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,058 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub bruised juniper berries onto the meat before adding salt.
Mix saltpetre, coarse sugar, and common salt with the ham.
Cure
Cure the ham for 8 to 12 hours.
Add bay salt and cure for 4 days.
After 4 days, apply treacle and let it cure for 1 month.
Season
To enhance flavor, add black pepper and additional juniper berries.
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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Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Is the meat that the cure penetrates and firms as it cures.
- Saltpetre
- Gives cured meat its pink color and helps preserve it.
- Coarse sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the saltiness of the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it during the long cure.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and a rich molasses flavor to the surface.
- Juniper berries
- Add a resinous, aromatic flavor to the meat.
The step that matters
Adding the bay salt and curing for 4 days. Salt must penetrate the whole ham evenly before the next layer is added. Giving the full cure time lets the salt reach the centre, which keeps the meat safe and evenly seasoned.
“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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