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Ham, to Boil

A ham is boiled after soaking, then glazed or topped with bread-raspings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham, to Boil

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Choose a sweet ham; check for smell and appearance.

  2. Soak the ham for 24 hours if very dry and salty, or 8 to 12 hours for Yorkshire or Westmorland ham.

  3. Wash the ham thoroughly and trim off any rusty or smoked parts.

Boil the ham

  1. Place the ham in a pot and cover it with cold water.

  2. Bring the water to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  3. Simmer gently until the ham is tender, ensuring it does not boil too quickly.

Finish and serve

  1. Once done, remove the ham from the pot and strip off the skin.

  2. Sprinkle bread-raspings over the ham or glaze it.

  3. For serving cold, let the ham cool in the water to retain juices.

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. 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; its curing and salt level determine how long it needs soaking.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until tender. Boiling vigorously toughens the meat and can break up the surface, so keep the water at a gentle simmer until the ham is tender.

“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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