Name: Sandwiches for Evening Parties
Ingredients: ¼ pound cold dressed ham, chopped fine; 1 tablespoon chopped gherkins; 1 teaspoon mustard; a little pepper or cayenne; 6 ounces butter, softened; sandwich bread, cut into thin slices; salt, to taste

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sandwiches for Evening Parties

Ingredients

¼ pound cold dressed ham, chopped fine
1 tablespoon chopped gherkins
1 teaspoon mustard
a little pepper or cayenne
6 ounces butter, softened
sandwich bread, cut into thin slices
salt, to taste

Directions

Prepare the filling

In a bowl, combine the chopped ham, gherkins, mustard, and pepper or cayenne.
In another bowl, stir the softened butter until creamy.
Add the ham mixture to the butter and mix well.

Assemble and serve

Layer thin slices of cold roast beef, veal, lamb, mutton, poultry, or game on the bread.
Season with a little salt and pepper, then top with another slice of bread.
Cut the sandwiches into small, attractive shapes 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.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Mustard + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,484 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Softens into the ham mixture, adding richness and a spreadable, moist texture to the sandwich.
Gherkins: Add sharp acidity that cuts through the richness of the butter and ham.
Mustard: Adds sharpness and a pungent aroma to the filling.

Swap the mustard

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

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well
Mustardthe original

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

Brown Bread461 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Oatmeal Bread51 recipes

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Sandwiches for Evening Parties