Skip to main content
Main

Baked Ham

A ham roasted with onion, carrot, tomato, wine, and cracker crumbs, baked until firm and evenly colored.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak, wash, and parboil the ham for 12 minutes per pound.

  2. Remove the skin and rub flour into the ham to stanch the juices.

Bake

  1. Place the ham in a 400°F (200°C) oven with the onion, carrot, and tomato around it.

  2. Pour in the hot water to prevent burning and cover closely.

  3. Bake for 12 minutes per pound, basting four times with wine and four times with pan gravy.

  4. Sprinkle browned cracker crumbs over the ham when done.

  5. Leave in the oven until firm and evenly colored.

Serve

  1. For a hot serving, strain the gravy and thicken it with browned flour.

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 + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Ham + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Carrot + sherrytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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 being cooked, and its size sets the parboiling and baking time.
Flour (in the method)
Rubbed onto the surface to seal the ham and help hold in its juices.
Madeira or sherry
Adds aroma and flavor to the basting liquid and pan gravy as it reduces.
Browned flour (in the method)
Thickens the strained gravy so it coats the ham for a hot serving.

The step that matters

Covering and basting the ham. Covering with hot water and basting regularly keeps the surface moist and prevents scorching, while the meat cooks through gently. Uncovered or dry heat can dry the outside before the center is done.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, tomato, sherry):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Turnipfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, tomato, sherry. 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.

More baked ham recipes

with Apples 3 See all 159 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipes