Name: Chicken, Ham, and Macaroni Pudding
Ingredients: 6 ounces pipe macaroni; ½ pound cooked ham, chopped; 1 pound cooked chicken, shredded; 2 large eggs, beaten; 1 tablespoon butter; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; broth (for boiling)

Why it works: Ham and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Chicken, Ham, and Macaroni Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Boil the macaroni in broth until tender.
Mix the cooked ham and chicken with the macaroni.

Make the pudding

Add the beaten eggs, butter, pepper, and salt, and mix well.
Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold.
Boil for 2 hours.

Serve

Turn out and serve.

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.

Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,958 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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

Pipe macaroni: Forms the bulk and body of the pudding, holding the mixture together as it sets.
Cooked ham: Adds savoury, salty flavour and a firmer bite to the pudding.
Cooked chicken: Provides the main protein and meaty texture throughout the pudding.
Large eggs: Bind the mixture and set it firm when heated, giving the pudding its structure.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, softening the texture and carrying flavour.

The step that matters

Boil for 2 hours. Gentle, steady simmering must keep the water level and heat even so the egg sets evenly through the pudding. Too vigorous a boil can make the mold bubble, and too little heat leaves the centre loose and undercooked.

“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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Chicken, Ham, and Macaroni Pudding