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Ham Sandwiches, No. 2

A ham sandwich spread with a creamy mixture of egg yolks, mustard, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ham Sandwiches, No. 2

Ingredients

Directions

Make the spread

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and mustard.

  2. Stir in the butter until creamy.

Assemble the sandwich

  1. Spread the mixture on thinly sliced bread.

  2. Top with finely-chopped ham.

  3. Close the sandwich and cut as desired.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. 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

Hard-boiled egg yolks
Their rich, fatty yolk emulsifies with the butter and mustard, giving the spread a smooth, creamy body.
Prepared mustard
Adds sharp acidity and pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the butter and yolks.
Butter
Supplies fat that softens into the yolks and mustard, making the spread creamy and spreadable.
Lean ham
Provides savoury, salty meat flavour as the main filling of the sandwich.

The step that matters

Stir in the butter until creamy. Butter must be soft enough to blend evenly with the yolks and mustard. If it is too cold it stays in lumps, and if too warm the mixture can separate and turn greasy, so the spread will not hold together smoothly.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, bread, 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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