Name: Lunch Loaf
Ingredients: cold boiled ham or salt pork, chopped; crushed crackers; 3 to 6 eggs

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 ↓

Lunch Loaf

Ingredients

cold boiled ham or salt pork, chopped
crushed crackers
3 to 6 eggs

Directions

Prepare

Chop the cold boiled ham or salt pork.
In a bowl, combine the chopped meat with crushed crackers and 3 to 6 eggs, depending on the amount of meat. Mix well until combined.

Bake and serve

Pour the mixture into a round baking powder box.
Bake until set, then let it cool.
Slice and serve cold.

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 + 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

Eggs: Bind the meat and crackers together and set into a firm, sliceable loaf when baked.
Crushed crackers: Absorb moisture and add body, giving the loaf a light, crumbly texture.
Cold boiled ham or salt pork: Provides the meaty flavour and substance that forms the body of the loaf.

“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.