Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Ham Sandwiches
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Grind the cold boiled ham, olives or pickles, and hard-boiled eggs together.
Mix the ground ingredients with cooked mayonnaise until it spreads easily.
Assemble and serve
Spread the mixture between slices of white bread.
Trim off the crusts before serving.
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.
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Olive + breadtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,091 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Ham + olivetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together284 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled ham
- Provides the savoury meat base that gives the filling its main body and flavour.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add soft, creamy body to the filling once mashed with the mayonnaise.
- Cooked mayonnaise
- Binds the ground ingredients into a spreadable filling and adds richness and moisture.
- Olives or pickles
- Add briny acidity that cuts through the richness of the mayonnaise and eggs.
- White bread
- Serves as the soft, mild base that holds the filling in place.
The step that matters
Mix the ground ingredients with cooked mayonnaise until it spreads easily.. Mixing too little leaves dry, lumpy filling that tears the bread, while overworking can make it pasty. Mixing until smooth gives an even spread with moisture distributed throughout.
“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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