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Ham Cakes

Ham cakes are fried or baked mixtures of chopped ham, breadcrumbs, eggs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine the chopped ham, breadcrumbs, eggs, pepper, salt, and enough milk in a bowl to create a moist mixture.

Fry the cakes

  1. Fry spoonfuls of the mixture on a griddle until golden brown, turning as needed.

  2. Replace breadcrumbs with mashed potatoes.

  3. Fry the mixture as above.

Make croquettes

  1. Form the mixture into small balls for croquettes.

  2. Roll the balls in egg and breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry the croquettes in boiling fat.

Bake with eggs

  1. Place the mixture in a baking dish.

  2. Create hollows in the mixture with a spoon.

  3. Crack an egg into each hollow.

  4. Bake until the eggs are set.

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

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

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Ham + milktop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,089 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  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

Breadcrumbs
Absorb the milk and give the mixture body so it holds its shape.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and set during cooking to hold the cakes firm.
Milk
Adds moisture so the mixture stays tender rather than dry.
Boiled ham
Provides the savoury meaty flavour that is the core of the dish.

The step that matters

Keep the mixture moist. Breadcrumbs soak up liquid, so a dry mixture produces crumbly cakes that fall apart when fried. Enough milk keeps the binder cohesive and the cakes tender.

“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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