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Ham Mousse

A chilled gelatin-based ham mixture folded with whipped cream, served with mayonnaise dressing and optional olives, pickles or horseradish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Ham Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mousse

  1. Soften the gelatin in cold water.

  2. Add hot cream, mustard, and salt to the softened gelatin.

  3. Stir this mixture into the chopped ham.

  4. When slightly thickened, fold in the whipped cream.

  5. Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.

Serve

  1. Serve cold, surrounded by mayonnaise dressing mixed with whipped cream, and add chopped olives and pickles or horseradish to the sauce.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

  3. Cream + hamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,370 recipes

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

  4. Cream + mustardtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,935 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  5. Gelatin + hamtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated gelatin
Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable mousse as it chills.
Cream
Whipped cream adds lightness and a smooth, airy, moist texture.
Chopped boiled ham
Provides the main savoury flavour and the body of the mousse.
Mixed mustard
Adds a sharp, tangy note that balances the richness of the cream.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped cream at slightly thickened stage. If the gelatin mixture has already set too firmly, the cream will not blend evenly and lumps form. If it is still very liquid, the whipped cream deflates and the mousse loses its airy texture.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Onionfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Lettucefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, cream, 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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