Name: Ham Sandwiches
Ingredients: 6 ounces butter; 2 tablespoons mustard; 1 pound thinly sliced ham; 20 slices of bread

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Sandwiches

Ingredients

6 ounces butter
2 tablespoons mustard
1 pound thinly sliced ham
20 slices of bread

Directions

Prepare

Cream the butter and mustard together.
Spread the mixture on one side of each of the 20 slices of bread.

Assemble and wrap

Arrange the ham on top of the spread on half of the slices.
Cover with the remaining slices, spread side down.
Wrap each sandwich carefully in oiled paper.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Mustard + hamtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Mustard + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,484 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds fat and richness, and carries the mustard flavour through the spread.
Mustard: Adds sharp, aromatic flavour that cuts the richness of the butter and ham.
Thinly sliced ham: Provides the savoury filling that gives each sandwich its main flavour.
Bread: Forms the structure that holds the filling and spread together.