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Ham Relish

A creamy relish made from ham, mushrooms, egg yolks, and cream, served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Ham Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Make the relish

  1. In a clean, well-tinned saucepan, rub the egg yolks with a wooden spoon until smooth.

  2. Gradually add the double cream to the yolks.

  3. Stir in half of the chopped egg white, along with the ham and mushrooms.

  4. Heat the mixture over low heat until very hot, seasoning with pepper and cayenne.

  5. If the mixture is too thick, add a little white sauce.

Serve

  1. Spread the mixture on buttered toast cut into slices.

  2. Garnish with the remaining chopped egg white and chopped parsley.

  3. Serve hot or cold, but it is best served hot.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,500 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled egg yolks
Rubbed smooth, they form the creamy base that binds the relish.
Double cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the relish a smooth, spreadable texture.
Cooked cold ham
Provides the savoury meaty flavour that forms the body of the relish.
Preserved mushrooms
Add earthy, savoury depth to the relish.

The step that matters

Heating over low heat. Egg yolks thicken and can curdle or turn grainy if overheated, so gentle low heat keeps the relish smooth while it becomes very hot.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, mushroom, egg, cream, pepper, sauce):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, mushroom, egg, cream, pepper, sauce. 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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