Name: Roast Ham, Champagne Sauce
Ingredients: 1 ham; powdered sugar; ½ pint champagne sauce (see recipe No. 204)

Why it works: Sugar and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Roast Ham, Champagne Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

1 ham
powdered sugar
½ pint champagne sauce (see recipe No. 204)

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Boil the ham as directed for No. 721, making a few lengthwise incisions on the surface.
Sprinkle the top with a little powdered sugar.

Bake and serve

Arrange the ham in a roasting pan and place it in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for fifteen minutes.
Serve with half a pint of champagne sauce.

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.

Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ham + champagnetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together45 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Sugar + champagnetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together424 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Champagne + saucetop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together59 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

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

What each ingredient does

Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown lightly in the oven.
Champagne sauce: Adds moisture and a light, tangy flavor to each serving.

“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.