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Ham and Eggs a L'aurore

A ham and eggs dish with a white sauce, topped with yolk crumbs and egg segments.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Ham and Eggs a L'aurore

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop fine some cold boiled ham.

  2. Boil six or eight eggs very hard. Cut them in quarters lengthwise. Remove the yolks, press them through a coarse sieve or strainer; lay the white segments in warm water.

Make the sauce

  1. Make a white sauce, using two tablespoonfuls of butter; when melted, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, and let cook for a few minutes; then add slowly two cupfuls of milk. Stir constantly, and when a smooth, consistent sauce, season with salt and white pepper.

  2. Moisten the chopped ham with a little of the sauce, and place it on the fire just long enough to become well heated. Stir constantly so the sauce will not brown.

Plate and serve

  1. Make a smooth, rounded mold of the ham in the center of a hot dish. Pour over it the white sauce. Sprinkle thickly over the top the yolk crumbs; then range evenly around it the white segments of the eggs.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

790Calories
28 gProtein
26 gFat
109 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites set firm and form the garnish, while the pressed yolks add a crumbly, rich topping.
Butter
Fat that melts with the flour to start the sauce and carries its flavour.
Flour
Starch that thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, consistent white sauce.
Milk
Liquid that forms the body of the white sauce, giving it a creamy texture.
Ham (in the method)
Main savoury filling, chopped and warmed in sauce to give the dish its meaty flavour.

The step that matters

Stirring the ham in the sauce. Constant stirring keeps the sauce from scorching or browning on the bottom of the pan, which would change its colour and taste. Gentle heat is enough because the ham only needs warming through.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, egg. 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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