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Grated Ham Sandwiches

A sandwich made with grated ham, puff pastry, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Grated Ham Sandwiches

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Finely grate the cooked ham and mix with a pinch of cayenne and a dash of nutmeg.

Bake the pastry

  1. Roll out the puff pastry very thin and cut into two equal portions.

  2. Prick the pastry in one or two places to prevent rising, then bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.

  3. Let the baked pastry cool completely, then spread a thin layer of fresh butter over it.

Assemble and cut

  1. Spread the grated ham evenly over the buttered pastry.

  2. Place the second piece of pastry on top and cut into small sandwiches with a sharp knife.

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.

  1. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 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

Well cooked ham
Provides the savoury filling that forms the body of the sandwich.
Puff pastry
Bakes into flaky, crisp layers that hold the filling between them.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a smooth layer that carries flavour between the pastry and ham.
Cayenne pepper
Adds gentle heat that seasons the ham filling.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, aromatic note to the ham filling.

The step that matters

Prick the pastry before baking. Pricking lets steam escape during baking so the pastry stays flat instead of puffing unevenly. Baking until golden brown gives the crisp, browned surface that keeps the layers firm.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pepper, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, butter. 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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