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Ham and Eggs, Savoury

A baked dish of beaten eggs, ham, mustard, herbs, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Ham and Eggs, Savoury

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the yolk base

  1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks into different bowls.

  2. Beat the yolks, then add milk, pepper, mustard, parsley, and sweet herbs.

  3. Mix in the minced cooked ham and pour into a buttered pie dish.

Top and bake

  1. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then carefully mix in the additional minced ham.

  2. Heap the egg white mixture on top of the ham mixture in the pie dish.

  3. Sprinkle with a little pepper and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Egg + hamtop 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

Eggs
Yolks set to form the custard base; whipped whites lighten the topping and give it loft.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the yolk mixture, keeping the custard tender as it bakes.
Minced cooked ham
Provides the savory meat flavor and bulk throughout the dish.

The step that matters

Whisking the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites hold air only when whisked to stiff peaks with no trace of yolk or grease. Under-whisked or deflated whites will not rise and give the topping its light, airy structure in the oven.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, pepper, parsley, ham. 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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