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Barbecued Ham

Ham slices are soaked, seasoned, fried, then simmered with wine, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Barbecued Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham as directed for broiling.

  2. Lay the slices flat in a frying pan.

  3. Pepper each slice and add ¼ teaspoon of made mustard on top.

  4. Pour vinegar around the slices, using ½ teaspoon for each slice.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry quickly, turning over until browned.

  2. Transfer to a hot dish.

  3. Add ½ glass of wine and 1 teaspoon of white sugar to the pan gravy.

  4. Boil and pour over the meat.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Raw ham
Forms the main meat that is browned and served in the sauce.
Made mustard
Adds sharp flavour that complements the rich pork.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the pan gravy and balances the sweetness.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the gravy brown and glaze slightly.
Wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the pan gravy.

The step that matters

Fry quickly, turning over until browned. Sugar in the gravy and on the surface browns and can burn quickly over high heat. Frying briskly and turning the slices keeps the browning even and stops the sugar and mustard from scorching before the gravy is made.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pepper, vinegar, wine, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Tomatofits less well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, vinegar, wine, sugar. 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.

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