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Ham Baked with Cider

A ham simmered with cider, onions, carrots, and spices, then baked with brown sugar and paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ham Baked with Cider

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham overnight in cold water.

  2. Wash thoroughly, scrape, and trim off the hard skin.

Simmer and cool

  1. Simmer the ham in cold water for 3 to 4 hours, adding onion, carrots, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns.

  2. After 2 hours, add the cider.

  3. Allow the ham to cool in the liquid.

  4. Remove from the liquid and peel off the skin.

Glaze and bake

  1. Place the ham in a roasting pan and sprinkle with brown sugar.

  2. Dab paprika and insert a clove in the center of each dab.

  3. Bake for 1 hour at 300°F (150°C), basting every 10 minutes with equal parts of cider and the liquid used for boiling.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

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 that is simmered, then glazed and baked until heated through.
Cider
Adds acidity and fruity flavour to the simmering liquid and the baste.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the surface and helps the glaze brown in the oven.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savoury depth to the simmering liquid.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and aroma to the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Basting with cider and cooking liquid. Basting every 10 minutes keeps the surface moist and lets the sugar build an even, glossy glaze without scorching. Using the same liquid used for boiling keeps the flavour consistent.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, cider, carrot, sugar, parsley, bread, clove):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, cider, carrot, sugar, parsley, bread, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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