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Another Way to Cure Hams

A method for curing hams using beer, salt, saltpetre, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beer and sugar work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 699 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Another Way to Cure Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cure

  1. In a large pot, combine the strong beer, common salt, saltpetre, and coarse brown sugar.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then let it cool.

Cure and smoke

  1. Pour the cooled mixture over the hams, ensuring they are well coated.

  2. Rub the hams daily and baste them more frequently.

  3. Let the hams cure for three weeks, then smoke them.

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. Beer + sugartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together699 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Ham + beertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,084 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives cured ham its characteristic pink color.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping to preserve it during curing.
Coarse brown sugar
Balances the saltiness and adds sweetness and flavor to the cured meat.
Strong beer
Carries the cure into the meat and adds malty flavor.

The step that matters

Rub the hams daily and baste them more frequently. The cure must be redistributed over the whole surface as it is drawn in and liquid forms. Even coverage over the three weeks keeps curing uniform and prevents spoilage at thin or uncovered spots.

“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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