Skip to main content
Main

Ham Sauce

A sauce made by mashing ham meat with gravy, herbs, pepper, and veal gravy, then simmering and straining.

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

Why it works: Ham and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Ham Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Remove all meat from the ham bone, discarding any rusty parts.

  2. Mash the meat and bone with a rolling pin.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine the mash with 3 tablespoons of gravy.

  2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.

  3. Add the bundle of sweet herbs, pepper, and ½ pint of veal gravy.

  4. Cover and let it stew over gentle heat until flavored.

  5. Strain off the gravy 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. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  3. Meat + vealtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

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

  4. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + vealtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham meat
Provides the main savoury, meaty flavour that defines the sauce.
Veal gravy
Forms the liquid base, adding body and savoury depth as it stews.
Gravy
Adds concentrated meaty flavour and body to the starting mash.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Meat and gravy scorch and stick to the pan at high heat, which gives a burnt taste. Gentle heat and frequent stirring keep the sauce smooth and clean-flavoured.

“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.

More ham sauce recipes

Grated 3 See all 15 →

You might also like

Meat CroquettesMeat Croquettes52 recipesVeal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesMeatballsMeatballs37 recipesMince MeatMince Meat37 recipes