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Deviled Ham

A chilled ham mixture seasoned with mustard and flour, set in a mold and sliced.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Deviled Ham

Why it works: Mustard and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,066 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Deviled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped ham, dry mustard, and flour.

  2. Gradually add the boiling water, mixing until well combined.

Set and serve

  1. Press the mixture into a mold and let it set.

  2. Once set, cut into slices and serve.

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. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Ham + flourtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled ham
Provides the main body and savory meaty flavor of the spread.
Flour
Absorbs the hot water and swells as starch, thickening the mixture and helping it hold its shape when set.
Dry mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that cuts through the richness of the ham.

The step that matters

Adding the boiling water gradually. Pouring in the water slowly while mixing lets the flour hydrate evenly. Dumping it in at once can leave dry lumps of flour, and the starch needs to swell fully to thicken the mixture and bind it so it sets firmly.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits about as well
  3. Okrafits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, flour. 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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