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Hams — Continued

Ham slices simmered in a mustard‑cayenne cream sauce served over toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Hams — Continued

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the ham

  1. Place the ham slices in a stewpan with a little water and cook over heat until the moisture evaporates and the ham is lightly browned.

  2. Dredge the ham with flour, dry mustard, and cayenne.

  3. Pour in the cream and milk, stirring over heat until the sauce boils.

Toast and serve

  1. Toast the bread slices until golden brown, then trim the crusts.

  2. Arrange the toasted bread on a hot dish, place the ham on top, and pour the sauce over before serving.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw ham
Provides the main savoury meat and browns in its own fat as the water evaporates.
Flour
Coats the ham and thickens the cream and milk into a smooth sauce.
Dry mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the cream.
Cayenne
Adds gentle heat that gives the sauce a warming, peppery edge.
Thick cream
Adds richness and body, giving the sauce a smooth, velvety texture.
Milk
Thins the cream into a pourable sauce that thickens as it boils.

The step that matters

Pour in the cream and milk, stirring over heat until the sauce boils. Flour needs to be heated fully for its starch to swell and thicken the liquid. Constant stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the base of the pan, which would leave the sauce grainy or burnt-tasting.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, flour, cream, milk, bread, butter. 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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