Name: Ham Sandwiches
Ingredients: fresh bread; butter; cold boiled ham; cucumber pickles; salad dressing; mustard

Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut fresh bread into thin slices and remove the crust.
Butter the slices.
Finely chop the cold boiled ham and cucumber pickles.

Make the filling

Mix the ham and pickles with salad dressing, adding more mustard if desired.

Assemble

Spread the mixture between the slices of bread.
Optionally, cut the bread into large squares and spread the mixture on the squares.
Roll them up, pinching the ends to keep them in shape.
Or tie each sandwich with a ribbon.

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.

Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,281 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,484 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

Fresh bread: Provides the structure that holds the filling together.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and keeps the bread from soaking up the filling.
Cold boiled ham: Supplies the main savoury meat flavour and bulk of the filling.
Cucumber pickles: Adds acidity and crunch that brighten the filling.
Salad dressing: Binds the chopped ham and pickles together and adds moisture and tang.
Mustard: Adds sharp, pungent heat that seasons the filling.