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Scrambled Eggs with Boiled Ham

Scrambled eggs mixed with chopped boiled ham, seasoned with white pepper, cooked in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Scrambled Eggs with Boiled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Add white pepper and cold water, and continue beating for 2 minutes.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt butter in a pan over medium heat.

  2. Pour in the egg mixture and stir until it begins to thicken.

  3. Add the chopped ham and mix well.

  4. Serve immediately.

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 + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + white peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Ham + white peppertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into soft curds that give the scramble its structure and body.
Cold water
Adds moisture so the eggs stay tender rather than dry and rubbery.
Boiled ham
Adds savory flavor and salty richness to the eggs.
Butter
Adds fat for flavor and helps keep the eggs from sticking to the pan.

The step that matters

Stir until the eggs just begin to thicken. Eggs turn rubbery and watery when overcooked, because the proteins tighten and squeeze out liquid. Removing the pan from heat while the curds are still soft lets residual heat finish them gently.

Swap the white pepper

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, butter. 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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