Why it works: Sugar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Rub the ham with saltpetre and let it sit overnight.
Rub in the coarse sea salt and common salt, and let it sit for three to four days.
Mix the sugar, black pepper, and Jamaica pepper, then spread this mixture over the ham.
When the salt has melted and there is plenty of brine, baste the ham two to three times a day.
Turn and rub the ham in the brine two to three times a week for three weeks.
Dry
Drain the ham well and hang it in a dry place.
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.
-
Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Saltpetre
- Helps the meat keep its pink colour during long curing and gives the cured flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, helping preserve it during curing.
- Common salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and forms the brine that penetrates the ham.
- Very coarse sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds sweetness to the cured surface.
The step that matters
Drain the ham well before hanging. Excess brine left on the surface can keep the ham damp, which slows drying and invites spoilage. Thorough draining helps the surface dry properly.
“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.
More ham curing recipes
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.