Name: Baked Slice of Ham
Ingredients: 1 thick slice of ham; 2 teaspoons mustard; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 cup milk

Why it works: Ham and mustard work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 747 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Baked Slice of Ham

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

1 thick slice of ham
2 teaspoons mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup milk

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Mix the sugar and mustard together.
Spread the mixture over both sides of the ham.

Bake

Place the ham in a pan and pour the milk over it.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

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.

Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,424 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ham + milktop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,089 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Mustard + milktop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,658 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Ham: Provides the main protein and savory flavor that the glaze and milk accompany.
Mustard: Adds sharp, tangy flavor that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Sugar: Sweetens the glaze and helps the surface brown during baking.
Milk: Adds moisture to the pan so the ham stays tender while it bakes.