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
Cook the ham
Place the ham in a cold frying pan and cook until done.
Remove the ham from the pan.
Place the ham on a hot dish.
Fry the eggs
Crack the eggs into a cup.
Add the eggs to the frying pan.
Cook the eggs in the fat from the ham until the whites are set.
Lift the eggs with a spatula.
Place the eggs on top of the ham.
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.
-
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
- Adds savory, salty flavor and renders fat that the eggs cook in.
- Eggs
- Whites set into a firm structure as they heat, holding the dish together.
The step that matters
Cook the eggs until the whites are set. Egg proteins set at moderate heat. Cooking too long or too hot makes the whites tough and rubbery, so remove the eggs once the whites are firm.
“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.
More ham and eggs recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.