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Ham Relish

A cold relish made with chopped ham, cream, eggs, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ham Relish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Scald the cream in a saucepan.

  2. Rub the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs smooth with a little of the cream.

  3. Add the yolk mixture to the cream in the saucepan with the chopped ham.

  4. Press the whites of the 2 hard-boiled eggs through a sieve and add to the mixture.

  5. Heat the mixture thoroughly and serve on a hot dish.

  6. Slice the remaining hard-boiled egg over the ham before serving.

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 + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Ham + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled ham
Provides the savoury meat base that the creamy egg mixture carries.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the relish a smooth, spreadable texture.
Hard-boiled eggs
Egg yolks blend into the cream to thicken and enrich it; whites add body and texture.

The step that matters

Rub the yolks smooth with cream. Yolks must be worked into a fine paste with a little warm cream before adding to the rest; lumps stay grainy because cooked yolk does not dissolve on its own. Heating the mixture thoroughly is also needed so it is safe and evenly warm.

“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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