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Ham Relish

A cold ham relish flavored with mustard, pepper, salt, egg, and cream or milk, served with tea or sandwiches.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cold ham into small pieces.

  2. Season with mustard, pepper, and coarse sea salt if needed.

Make the relish

  1. Moisten with the beaten egg and cream or milk.

  2. Heat the mixture through.

  3. Transfer to a glass or jar to cool.

Serve

  1. Serve as a relish for tea or sandwiches.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cold ham
Provides the main meaty body and flavour of the relish.
Beaten egg
Binds the chopped ham together and, when heated, helps the mixture set slightly.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness so the mixture holds together rather than drying out.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that balances the richness of the ham.

The step that matters

Heating the mixture through. Heating gently after the egg is added lets the egg set and bind the mixture; overheating can make the egg scramble and turn grainy and dry.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, egg, cream. 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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