Why it works: Molasses and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,879 recipes. The science ↓
Curing- Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the hams
Hang the hams for a week to ten days in a cool, dry place.
Mix the salt, molasses, and saltpetre in a bowl.
Heat the mixture and rub it well into the hams, focusing on the bones and recesses.
Repeat the rubbing process until all the mixture is used.
Let the hams sit for two to three days.
Brine, dry and smoke
Submerge the hams in brine for three weeks.
Soak the hams in cold water for eight hours.
Hang the hams to dry in a cool place for a week or more.
Smoke the hams for three to five days, ensuring they do not heat up.
Use corn-cobs or apple-tree wood for smoking.
Tie the hams in bags for storage during the summer.
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.
-
Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,879 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it against spoilage.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured hams their characteristic pink colour.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and flavour that balances the sharpness of the salt.
The step that matters
Heating the cure before rubbing it in. The mixture must be warm enough to spread evenly and penetrate the meat, but not so hot that it cooks the surface. Rubbing thoroughly into the bones and recesses ensures the cure reaches the deepest parts where spoilage can start.
“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.
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.