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Ham Cake

A baked cake made from cold boiled ham, butter, spices, and optional eggs, glazed with jelly.

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 ↓

Ham Cake

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. Cut the cold boiled ham into equal parts of fat and lean.

  2. Season the ham well with spices.

  3. Beat the ham to a paste in a mortar.

  4. Add ¼ cup of fresh butter and mix well.

Bake and serve

  1. Put the mixture into a mold and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  2. Let it cool, then dip the mold in boiling water for a few moments to release.

  3. Serve with jelly glaze if desired.

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).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled ham
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the cake.
Fresh butter
Adds fat for moisture and a richer, softer texture.

The step that matters

Beating the ham to a paste. If the ham is not broken down finely enough, the cake will be coarse and crumbly rather than smooth and firm. Mixing in the butter afterward helps bind the paste so it holds its shape when cooled and unmolded.

“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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