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Boiling Meat

Contains saltpetre, which may pose food safety concerns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Boiling Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Soak the ham in water for 24 to 48 hours, changing the water 2-3 times.

  2. Wash, scrape, and scrub the ham until clean.

  3. Trim the ham and place it in a large pot filled with cold water.

  4. Add carrots, celery, onions, garlic, parsley, thyme, marjoram, bay leaves, cloves, and mace to the pot.

  5. If desired, add coriander seeds, juniper berries, a wisp of hay, or leather shavings for flavor.

  6. Optionally, add saltpetre for color, but it's not necessary for a good ham.

  7. Add a bottle of sherry to the water for improved flavor.

  8. Remove any scum that forms during boiling.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, thyme, marjoram. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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