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Sauce

Ham Sauce

A sauce made by mashing diced ham with gravy, herbs, and pepper, simmered until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mash the diced ham with a rolling pin and place it in a saucepan.

  2. Add the gravy and set over low heat, stirring to prevent sticking.

  3. After some time, add the sweet herbs, beef gravy, and pepper.

  4. Cover and let simmer over gentle heat until done, then drain off.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

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

  3. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Provides the savory meaty base and flavor that the sauce is built on.
Gravy
Supplies liquid and body, giving the sauce its moisture and savory depth.
Sweet herbs
Add aromatic flavor that rounds out the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring over low heat. Ham and gravy can scorch and stick to the base of the pan over direct heat. Low heat with regular stirring prevents sticking and burning, keeping the sauce clean-tasting.

“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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