Name: Baked Mushrooms and Ham in a Spinach Crust
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked leaf spinach; 4 cups small button mushrooms; 1 cup diced ham; 1 cup cream; 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese; 1 tbsp grated onion; 1 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp dry mustard; 1/4 tsp paprika; 4 tbsp toasted almond slices; 1 tbsp minced parsley

Why it works: Spinach and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 503 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

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.

Spinach + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together503 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Spinach + almondtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together352 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Spinach + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together778 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + almondtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together246 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked leaf spinach: Forms the bottom layer and adds moisture and a savoury, earthy flavour.
Button mushrooms: Release moisture as they cook, adding juiciness and savoury depth to the bake.
Cream: Makes the custard base that binds the layers and gives a smooth, rich texture.
Grated sharp cheddar cheese: Melts into the custard, adding fat, saltiness and a sharp flavour that sets as it bakes.
Diced ham: Adds salty, savoury meat flavour and chewiness to the layers.

The step that matters

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. The cream and cheese mixture needs steady heat to set into a custard without curdling or turning rubbery. Starting in a cold oven or overbaking can make the cheese grainy and the custard dry.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, mushroom, ham, cream, cheddar cheese, onion, mustard):

Beansfits better
Lentilsfits better
Sesamefits better
Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, mushroom, ham, cream, cheddar cheese, onion, mustard. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Ham	100g cooked	145
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Leaf	not in our table	0

Baked Mushrooms and Ham in a Spinach Crust