Name: Hungry Person's Breakfast Custard Casserole
Ingredients: 1 pound baking potatoes; 2 teaspoons salt; 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper; 6 ounces finely diced ham, cooked and crumbled; 2-ounce jar sliced pimentos; 3 eggs; 1 cup milk; 3 tablespoons chopped chives; Salsa or yogurt (optional)

Why it works: Potato and chive work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 611 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Hungry Person's Breakfast Custard Casserole

Oven375°F

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Heat oven to 375°F.
Butter a square baking dish or other small casserole.
Peel potatoes and slice very thin.

Layer

Arrange half of the potatoes in the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cover with half of the ham.
Arrange the remaining potatoes on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Top with the remaining ham and pimentos.

Add custard and bake

Beat the eggs, milk, and chives until blended.
Pour the mixture over the potatoes.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
Uncover the dish and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

662Calories

58 gProtein

20 gFat

64 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Ham	100g cooked	145
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pimento	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Potato + chivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together611 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Potato + yogurttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + chivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,885 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Baking potatoes: Form the bulk of the layers and become tender in the baked custard.
Eggs: Set the milk mixture into a custard that holds the layers together.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the custard, keeping the casserole moist as it bakes.
Ham: Adds savory flavor and salt-cured richness throughout the layers.

The step that matters

Covering, then uncovering, the dish. Baking covered first lets the thin potato slices cook through with steam, while uncovering at the end lets the top brown and the custard firm up. Removing the foil too early can leave the potatoes underdone.

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, ham, egg, milk, yogurt):

Capsicumfits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well
Chivethe original
Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, ham, egg, milk, yogurt. 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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Hungry Person's Breakfast Custard Casserole