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Deviled Ham

A savory spread made from boiled ham, eggs, mustard, butter, vinegar, and pickles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Deviled Ham

Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Deviled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the leftover boiled ham into fine pieces.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs until light.

Make the dressing

  1. Add the ground mustard, butter, vinegar, salt, and pepper to the eggs and mix well.

  2. Cook the mixture over low heat until slightly thickened, then let it cool.

Combine

  1. Combine the cooled dressing with the chopped ham and add chopped pickles.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Mustard + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

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

  5. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs cook gently into a thickened dressing that binds the ham together.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness of the eggs and butter.
Boiled ham
Forms the main body of the spread, supplying meaty flavor and texture.

The step that matters

Cook the dressing over low heat. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures, so gentle heat thickens the dressing smoothly. High heat can scramble the eggs into curds, so the mixture should be stirred and cooked slowly.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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