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Canapes, Indian Style

A spreadable mixture of ham, chicken, chutney, curry powder, and butter served on toasted bread or croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Canapes, Indian Style

Ingredients

Directions

Make the spread

  1. In a mortar, combine the cooked ham, chutney, cooked chicken, curry powder, and butter.

  2. Mash the ingredients together until well blended.

  3. Pass the mixture through a sieve to achieve a smooth texture.

Assemble

  1. Spread the mixture on toasted bread or croutons.

  2. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

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. Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

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

  4. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked ham
Provides the savory meaty base of the spread.
Cooked chicken
Adds mild meaty body and bulk to the spread.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the spread rich and smooth.
Chutney
Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the curry flavor.
Curry powder
Adds warm spice aroma and flavor to the spread.

The step that matters

Pass the mixture through a sieve. Mashing alone leaves fibrous bits of meat and lumps. Pushing the mixture through a sieve breaks these down, giving the smooth texture the spread needs to spread evenly on toast.

“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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