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Baked Ham

A ham simmered, then baked with mustard, vinegar, and brown sugar crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Baked Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Cover the ham with cold water and simmer gently for 2 to 3 hours to loosen the skin.

  2. Remove the skin and place the ham in a dripping pan.

Bake and glaze

  1. Mix vinegar and hot water with mustard, then pour over the ham.

  2. Bake at 300°F (150°C), basting every few minutes for 2 hours.

  3. Cover the ham with 1 inch of brown sugar, pressing it down firmly.

  4. Do not baste again until the sugar forms a thick crust, about 1 hour.

  5. Once golden brown, drain the pan and cool the ham on a dish.

  6. Press a flat dish on top to help it cut firmly.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Ham + vinegartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Is the main cut of meat that is slowly cooked and then glazed.
Coarse brown sugar
Forms a thick, golden crust through browning and caramelising on the surface.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar glaze.
English mustard
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that complements the sweet glaze and rich meat.

The step that matters

Do not baste again until the sugar forms a thick crust. Sugar browns and sets into a crust only when left undisturbed in the oven heat. Basting too early keeps the surface wet, so the glaze stays soft and fails to caramelise.

“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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