Name: Virginia Ham Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound cooked Virginia ham; 1 head lettuce; 4 hard-boiled eggs; French dressing

Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Virginia Ham Salad

Ingredients

1 pound cooked Virginia ham
1 head lettuce
4 hard-boiled eggs
French dressing

Directions

Prepare

Slice the ham very thin and lay it on a platter garnished with lettuce.
Separate the yolks from the whites of the hard‑boiled eggs.
Chop the egg whites very fine and put the yolks through a potato ricer.

Assemble

First lay the chopped whites on the ham, then the riced yolks.
Pour French dressing over the top.

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 + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ham + lettucetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together276 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Lettuce + eggtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,301 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Virginia ham: Provides the savory, salty meat that forms the base of the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and creamy texture through the chopped whites and riced yolks.
French dressing: Adds moisture and tangy, sweet acidity that flavors the ham and eggs.