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Ham Fritters

A fried batter of chopped ham, eggs, milk, and breadcrumbs seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped ham, beaten eggs, milk, and bread crumbs.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Fry

  1. Heat fat in a pan over medium heat.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat.

  3. Fry until golden brown.

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

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

  2. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

Ham
Provides the main savory flavor and most of the bulk of the fritters.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when cooked, holding the fritters together.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture, keeping the fritters tender inside.
Bread crumbs
Absorb some of the liquid from the eggs and milk so the mixture holds its shape.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls into the hot fat. The fat must be hot enough to set the outside of each spoonful quickly. If it is not hot enough, the wet mixture spreads, absorbs more fat, and cooks unevenly.

“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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