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Ham, Kromeskies of

Thin slices of ham are wrapped around a seasoned ox kidney and bacon mixture, battered and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ham, Kromeskies of

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Mince the ox kidney and mix it with the fried bacon, chopped onion, carrot, savory herbs, pepper, and salt.

  2. Place the mixture in a stewpan with the stock and boil slowly for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve.

Wrap and fry

  1. Place a teaspoon of the mixture on each slice of raw ham and wrap it up tightly.

  2. Secure the ends with a skewer or tie with string.

  3. Dip the wrapped ham in batter and fry until golden.

  4. Drain and garnish with crispy parsley.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 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

Ox kidney
Forms the savory, meaty body of the filling once minced and cooked.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor to the filling.
Raw ham
Wraps the filling and cooks to a tender, salty outer layer.
Batter
Forms a coating that fries to a crisp, golden crust.
Onion
Builds a savory aromatic base for the filling.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and body to the filling.

The step that matters

Wrap the ham tightly and secure the ends. A loose wrap lets the filling escape into the oil while frying, so the ends must be sealed before the batter and frying.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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