Name: Ham Sandwiches
Ingredients: well-boiled ham; 1 egg yolk; 1 teaspoon mustard; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Why it works: Mustard and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,120 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ham Sandwiches

Ingredients

well-boiled ham
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

Chop the well-boiled ham until it is as fine as paste.
Stir in the egg yolk.
Mix in the mustard and Worcestershire sauce, adjusting to taste.

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.

Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,210 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).