Why it works: Molasses and ham work together. They rank in the top 38% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 55 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
The Virginia Mode of Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Dissolve saltpetre and baking soda in a strong saltwater brine.
For every 16 pounds of ham, add ½ pint of molasses to the brine.
Cure and smoke
Submerge the hams in the brine and let them cure for 3 to 4 weeks.
Remove the hams and smoke them with the hocks facing downward to retain juices.
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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Molasses + hamtop 38% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together55 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
- Saltpetre
- Helps cure the meat, keeping it pink and inhibiting spoilage-causing bacteria during long curing.
- Baking soda
- Raises the brine's pH, which can help the cured meat stay tender and hold moisture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deeper flavour to the cured ham.
- Ham
- The main meat, which the brine penetrates and transforms during the long cure.
The step that matters
Submerging the hams in the brine for the full cure. The hams must stay fully submerged for the whole 3 to 4 weeks so the brine reaches evenly through the meat. Any exposed area can spoil or cure unevenly.
“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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