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Frizzled Ham and Eggs

A skillet dish of eggs and ham seasoned with pepper and coarse sea salt.

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 ↓

Frizzled Ham and Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the ham into fine pieces.

  2. Heat butter or beef drippings in a skillet.

Cook the eggs

  1. Beat the eggs well and pour them over the ham in the skillet.

  2. Cook until heated through.

  3. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  4. Stir gently and cook until browned.

  5. Turn over without stirring.

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into a soft mass that binds the ham together as the eggs cook.
Ham
Provides savory, salty flavor and chewy bits throughout the eggs.
Butter or beef drippings
Fat that keeps the eggs from sticking and adds rich flavor while browning.

The step that matters

Turn over without stirring.. Once the eggs have started to set and brown on the bottom, stirring breaks up the curds and prevents the golden crust that gives the dish its texture and flavor.

“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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