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Deviled Ham

A cold ham salad with pickles, eggs, mustard, salt, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Deviled Ham

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 ↓

Deviled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped boiled ham and chopped pickled cucumbers.

  2. Rub the yolks of the hard boiled eggs finely.

Make and combine

  1. Mix the egg yolks with the mustard, salt, and vinegar.

  2. Pour the dressing over the ham and cucumbers and mix well.

  3. Adjust moisture to be similar to chicken salad.

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.

  1. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled ham
Forms the meaty base of the spread, giving it bulk and savory flavor.
Pickled cucumbers
Adds acidity and crunch that brighten the rich ham.
Hard boiled eggs
Egg yolks, rubbed fine, bind into a smooth, creamy texture.
Made mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that cuts through the richness of the yolks.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that balances the fat and sharpens the overall flavor.

The step that matters

Adjust moisture to be similar to chicken salad. The yolk dressing must coat the chopped ham and cucumbers evenly without making the mixture watery or stiff. Too little liquid leaves it dry and crumbly, while too much thins it and dilutes the flavor. Adjusting by feel keeps the texture spreadable.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, mustard, vinegar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Cucumberthe original
  4. Lettucefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, mustard, vinegar. 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.

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