Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Boiled Ham
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Scrub the ham well.
Cut away the tough skin around the bone.
If the ham is very salty, soak it skin side up in cold water overnight.
Place the ham skin side up in a pot and cover with cold water.
Add bay leaves, sliced carrots, onion with cloves, and broken cinnamon.
Simmer
Bring the liquid to a slow boil.
Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
Simmer for 20 minutes per pound of meat. For a large ham, this usually takes about 4 hours.
After 2 hours, turn the ham skin side down.
Once done, remove the ham from the heat.
Let the ham cool in the liquid.
Glaze and bake
Trim away the rind, leaving the fat smooth.
Sprinkle the surface with a mixture of bread crumbs and brown sugar.
Place the ham in a 400°F (200°C) oven to brown the surface.
Cool thoroughly before slicing.
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.
-
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Carrot + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together981 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Provides the main meat, whose slow simmering makes it tender and flavorful.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the surface and caramelizes in the oven for a browned glaze.
- Bread crumbs
- Combine with sugar on the surface to form a crust that browns in the oven.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic flavor to the simmering liquid.
The step that matters
Simmer for the full time. Simmering gently for the full time, rather than boiling hard, lets the connective tissue in the ham break down slowly, so the meat stays tender and moist instead of tough and dry.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, clove, cinnamon, bread, sugar):
- Parsnipfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, clove, cinnamon, bread, 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.
More boiled ham recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.