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Molded Ham

A baked ham mixture shaped into a loaf, topped with breadcrumbs and butter, served with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Molded Ham

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Mix the prepared ham, egg yolk, and marjoram in a bowl until well combined.

  2. Press the mixture into a bowl.

  3. Turn the mixture out into a baking pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Sift fine bread crumbs over the top.

  2. Place a piece of butter on top.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

  4. Serve on a warm dish with tomato 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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Marjoram + tomatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Prepared ham
Provides the main bulk and meaty flavor of the dish.
Egg yolk
Binds the ham so the mixture holds its shape when baked.
Marjoram
Adds a fragrant, herbal aroma that complements the ham.
Fine bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and brown on top, forming a light crust.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches flavor and promotes browning on top.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F until browned. The ham is already cooked and lean, so baking only until the top browns keeps it moist. Overbaking tightens the proteins and dries the meat.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, bread, butter, tomato, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, bread, butter, tomato, 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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