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Gebackener Schinken — Baked Ham

A ham wrapped in bread dough, seasoned with sage, bay leaves, cloves, and pepper, baked until crust forms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Gebackener Schinken — Baked Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham properly and remove all brown, smoked parts from the underside.

  2. Cut off the skin smoothly and chop off the knuckle.

  3. Powder the sage and bay leaves, then pound the cloves finely.

  4. Mix the seasonings with the fine pepper and strew over the ham.

Wrap and bake

  1. Roll out the bread dough to ¾ inch thick and cover the ham tightly to prevent juices from escaping.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 4 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Break off the crust before the ham is more than half cold.

  2. Glaze or garnish as desired.

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. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main cut that is seasoned, wrapped and slowly baked until tender.
Bread dough
Forms a sealed crust that traps juices and moisture around the ham while it bakes.
Dried sage
Adds an earthy, aromatic flavour that is absorbed into the meat's surface.
Bay leaves
Contribute a subtle aromatic flavour to the seasoning blend rubbed onto the ham.
Cloves
Add a warm, spicy aroma that complements the richness of the ham.

The step that matters

Wrap the ham tightly in the dough. A sealed dough crust keeps juices from escaping during the long bake, so the ham stays moist. Gaps let juices run out and the meat dries.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, clove, pepper, 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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