Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Sugar Cured Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Rub the hams with salt and brown sugar, reserving some for later use.
Keep the hams covered for two weeks.
Smoke and coat
Smoke the hams after two weeks.
Boil molasses, water, saltpetre, and black pepper together.
Thicken the mixture with cooked flour to a stiff paste.
Spread the paste on the fleshy side and ends of the ham.
Store
Store in a cool, 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.
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + peppertop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it during the cure.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the salt in the cure.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich flavour to the glaze.
- Saltpetre
- Helps keep the cured meat's pink colour and inhibits spoilage.
- Flour
- Thickens the boiled mixture into a stiff paste that clings to the ham.
The step that matters
Boiling the molasses mixture before thickening. Boiling dissolves the saltpetre and sugars evenly and cooks the flour so it thickens smoothly instead of leaving raw, lumpy starch in the paste.
“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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