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Ham Sandwiches

A sandwich made with cold ham, pickle, mustard, pepper, butter, and light bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grate the cold ham into a bowl.

  2. Add chopped pickle, mustard, black pepper, and butter.

  3. Stir quickly until the mixture is creamy.

Assemble

  1. Spread the mixture on thin slices of light bread.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Ham + mustardtop 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

Cold ham
Provides the main savory filling and meaty flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the mixture turn creamy and spread smoothly.
Chopped pickle
Adds acidity and a sharp, tangy bite that cuts the richness.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that brightens the filling.
Light bread
Provides a soft base that holds and carries the filling.

The step that matters

Stir until creamy. Stirring the butter into the grated ham and seasonings must be done quickly so the butter stays soft and emulsifies into a smooth, spreadable mixture instead of becoming greasy or clumpy.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. 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.

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