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 ↓
Ham Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the ham finely.
In a large pan, crack the eggs one at a time and season with pepper.
Beat the eggs for at least 20 minutes.
Cook
Grease large narrow baking pans with lard and heat them.
Pour about 24 well-beaten eggs into each pan.
Occasionally lift the eggs from the bottom of the pan as they cook.
When the eggs are set, place a quantity of chopped ham along the center.
Fold the sides of the omelet over the center.
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.
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set into a structure that holds the ham and gives the omelet its body.
- Ham
- Provides the savory filling that is folded into the omelet.
The step that matters
Lifting the eggs from the bottom of the pan as they cook. Lifting lets uncooked egg flow under the set layer, so the omelet cooks evenly instead of sticking and browning unevenly on the bottom.
“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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