Why it works: Ham and cider work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 83 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Ham Cooked in Cider
Ingredients
Directions
Boil and prepare the ham for baking.
Baste the ham every few minutes with hot cider.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Ham + cidertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together83 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the main meat, which is cooked slowly so it stays moist and tender.
- Hot cider
- Adds moisture and sweetness, and its sugars help the ham brown as it is basted.
The step that matters
Basting the ham with hot cider. Regular basting keeps the surface moist and lets the sugars in the cider caramelize gradually, building colour and flavour without burning. Too little basting can leave the outside dry, while letting the glaze run too hot or long can scorch it.
“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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