Name: Deviled Ham
Ingredients: thinly sliced ham; cayenne pepper; black pepper; 3 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 1 tablespoon mustard; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Deviled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Sprinkle the ham slices with cayenne and black pepper.
Broil the ham until well cooked.
In a saucepan, melt the butter and mix in the vinegar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.
Pour the hot sauce over the broiled ham in a dish.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Thinly sliced ham: Provides the main meat and savory flavor that the sauce is poured over.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the sauce, carrying flavor and giving it a smooth texture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the butter and ham.
Mustard: Adds sharp, tangy flavor and helps the sauce taste bold rather than flat.
Worcestershire sauce: Adds savory depth and umami that rounds out the sauce.

Swap the mustard

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

Mustardthe original
Capsicumfits about as well
Shallotfits less well
Onionfits less well

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