Why it works: Ham and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,084 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
To Boil Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the ham
Cover the ham with water.
Boil for 20 minutes per pound.
Remove from heat.
Add 1 cup of sugar.
Rest and chill
Let the ham stand in the liquid for 1 hour.
Take the ham out.
Place it in a vessel of cold water.
Let it remain in cold water for 3 hours.
Finish
Remove the ham.
Trim the ham.
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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Ham + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- The main cut, simmered gently and kept in its liquid so it stays moist and tender.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and flavors the cooking liquid around the ham.
The step that matters
Boil for 20 minutes per pound. Boiling too hard or for longer than needed toughens the meat and dries its outer layers. Keep the water at a gentle simmer and time by weight so the ham cooks through without becoming stringy.
“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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