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Sauce

Sauce for Grated Ham

A vinegar and mustard sauce mixed with beaten egg yolks for grated ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and mustard 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 ↓

Sauce for Grated Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Boil one pint of vinegar.

  2. Beat the yolks of four eggs.

  3. Stir the beaten yolks into the boiling vinegar.

  4. Add mustard to taste.

Finish

  1. When cold, mix the sauce into the grated ham.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

84Calories
6 gProtein
6 gFat
1 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. See the original page.

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + mustardtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,210 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the hot vinegar into a sauce as they cook gently.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances the richness of the yolks.
Mustard
Adds pungency and flavour that cuts through the richness of the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the beaten yolks into the boiling vinegar. Egg yolks can scramble if they meet very hot liquid too quickly. Adding them gradually while stirring helps them blend smoothly and thicken the sauce evenly.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, egg. 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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