Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Pried Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Fry the eggs
Heat the clarified butter in a skillet until smoking hot.
Carefully crack the eggs into the hot grease, ensuring not to overcrowd the pan.
Spoon the hot grease over the eggs instead of flipping them.
To serve, fold the egg white over the yolk as it cooks.
Make the bread base
For a bread base, cut stale bread into 1-inch thick slices and toast slightly.
Cut a 1-inch diameter hole in the center of each slice and place them on a buttered plate.
Carefully break an egg into the hole of each slice, season, and bake.
Toast the round pieces of bread, dip them in boiling water, and butter them.
Once the egg is cooked, place a buttered round piece of toast on top.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Proteins set with heat, forming the cooked white and the jammy or runny yolk.
- Clarified butter
- Conducts heat evenly across the pan and adds rich flavor and gentle browning.
- Stale bread
- Dry, sturdy slices hold the egg in place and soak up little moisture, giving a firm base.
The step that matters
Heat the fat until smoking hot before adding the eggs. Very hot fat sets the egg white quickly so it stays neat and does not spread. Crowding the pan lowers its temperature, so the eggs steam and cook unevenly.
“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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