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Ham, to Cook

A ham simmered with carrots, onion, and celery, then topped with glaze or breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Ham, to Cook

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash, scrape, trim, and clean the ham.

  2. Place the ham in a large pot with cold water.

  3. Add carrots, onion, and celery to the pot.

Cook and finish

  1. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer slowly for 4-5 hours.

  2. If not using hot, let the ham cool in the stock before removing it.

  3. Remove the skin and cover the ham with glaze or baked bread-crumbs.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main protein, and slow simmering in liquid tenderizes it while keeping it moist.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the cooking stock.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma to the cooking stock.
Celery
Adds aromatic flavor to the cooking stock.

The step that matters

Simmering the ham slowly. A rolling boil toughens the meat and can make it dry and stringy. Holding the liquid at a gentle simmer for the full 4-5 hours lets connective tissue break down slowly, leaving the ham tender and moist.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, celery, 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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