Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Ham and Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Fry the ham
Fry the ham quickly and remove it from the pan as soon as it's done.
Fry the eggs
Drop the eggs, one at a time, into the hot fat, being careful not to break the yolks.
Keep the eggs separated to preserve their shape.
Serve
When the eggs are done, place one on each piece of ham.
If any eggs remain, arrange them around the edge of the platter.
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.
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 savory, salty base that each egg is set on.
- Eggs
- Set when heated to form the main soft-cooked topping of the dish.
- Cooking fat
- Conducts heat to the eggs and ham and adds richness and browning to the surface.
The step that matters
Dropping the eggs into the hot fat. Eggs added to fat that is not hot enough spread out and cook slowly, while crowding or rough handling breaks the yolks. Keeping the fat hot and the eggs separated helps each egg hold a round shape and keeps the yolk intact.
“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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