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Turban of Macaroni and Ham

A baked macaroni and ham casserole with eggs, milk, paprika, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Turban of Macaroni and Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil macaroni in salted water until tender, then drain and rinse in cold water.

  2. Cut macaroni into small pieces and mix with ham, salt, paprika, beaten eggs, and milk or cream.

Bake and serve

  1. Turn mixture into buttered molds and bake in a pan with hot water until firm to the touch.

  2. Let cool for a few minutes, then turn out from molds and serve with tomato or white 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.

  1. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  3. Ham + milktop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,089 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard so the mixture holds its shape when turned out of the molds.
Milk or thin cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the baked mixture tender rather than dry.
Macaroni
Provides the body of the bake, giving it substance once cut into small pieces.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour and a meaty bite throughout the bake.

The step that matters

Baking in a pan of hot water. Egg-based custards turn grainy or watery when heated too fast. The surrounding hot water bath moderates the heat so the mixture sets gently and stays smooth. Remove it once firm to the touch, since overbaking makes the eggs weep and toughen.

“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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