Why it works: Ham and cider work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 83 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Boil a Ham in Cider
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the ham overnight and wash it carefully.
Place the ham skin side down in a boiler.
Cook
Cover the ham with cold water and sharp cider in a ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part cider.
Cook for 20 minutes per pound until well cooked.
Finish
Dress the ham as desired and bake.
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 + cidertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together83 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- The main cut of meat, which becomes tender and moist as it cooks slowly in liquid.
- Sharp cider
- Adds tangy acidity and fruity flavour to the cooking liquid, which carries into the ham.
The step that matters
Cook for 20 minutes per pound until well cooked. Cooking time depends on the ham's weight, so it must be cooked through to be safe and tender. Judging only by the clock can leave the centre underdone or the outside dried out, so check that the meat is fully cooked before serving.
“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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