Skip to main content
Main

Boiled Ham

Ham boiled with mustard and sugar, optionally baked with crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Boiled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the ham overnight, then wash it carefully.

  2. Place the ham skin side down in a boiler and cover it with cold water.

  3. Boil for four hours, allowing twenty minutes per pound.

  4. After cooking, dip the ham in cold water and let it cool.

  5. Remove the hock bone, skin, and trim the ham nicely.

Glaze and bake

  1. If baking, rub the ham with mustard and sugar.

  2. If baking, cover the ham with crumbs.

  3. Bake slowly until nicely browned.

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).

  2. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,484 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + breadtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ham
Provides the main meat, which is cooked through by boiling and then optionally baked for browning.
Ground mustard
Adds a sharp, savory flavour that balances the sweetness of the glaze.
Sugar
Helps the glaze brown during baking and adds sweetness to the crust.
Rolled cracker or bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, browned crust on the outside of the ham during baking.

The step that matters

Boil for four hours, allowing twenty minutes per pound.. Boiling time must match the ham's weight so the centre is fully cooked while the meat stays moist rather than dry and 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.

More boiled ham recipes

Cold 4 See all 328 →

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes