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
Prepare the pickle
Dissolve saltpetre and saleratus in strong salt pickle.
For every 16 pounds of ham, add ½ pint of molasses to the pickle.
Cure and smoke
Submerge the hams in the pickle and let them cure for 3 to 4 weeks.
Remove the hams and smoke them with the hocks facing downward to preserve the 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 the ham keep its pink colour during curing and smoking.
- Saleratus
- Raises the alkalinity of the pickle, helping the cure work evenly.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deeper flavour to the cured ham.
- Hams
- The main meat that the pickle cures and the smoke flavours.
The step that matters
Submerging the hams fully in the pickle. Any part left above the brine will not cure evenly and may spoil or stay grey. Keeping every surface under the liquid for the full 3 to 4 weeks lets the salt, saltpetre and sugars penetrate uniformly.
“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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