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Ham Cakes

A fried potato and ham mixture formed into cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mash the boiled potatoes until fine and light using a fork.

  2. Add the chopped meat, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of butter; mix well.

  3. Shape the mixture into thin cakes about 1.5 inches thick.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan.

  2. Once hot, add the cakes to the pan and brown on both sides.

  3. Serve on a warm dish.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  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

Potatoes
Provide the starchy body that holds the cakes together and gives them a soft interior.
Ham
Adds savory flavor and salty depth to the mashed potato base.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the cake surfaces brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Brown both sides in the pan. The pan must be hot before the cakes go in, so the surfaces brown quickly and form a crisp crust. Adding cakes to a cool pan lets them absorb butter and turn greasy and pale.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Onionfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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