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 Fried
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the ham
Heat a frying pan over medium heat.
Lay in the slices of boiled ham and cook until the fat is transparent, turning to prevent burning.
Alternatively, place slices of raw ham in boiling water and cook until tender.
Brown the cooked ham in the frying pan and transfer to a platter.
Fry the eggs and serve
Fry the eggs in the same pan, spooning the fat over them to avoid flipping.
Carefully remove the eggs and place them on top of the slices of ham.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Slices of boiled ham
- Provides the main savoury meat base; rendering its fat and browning it adds flavour.
- Slices of raw ham
- Alternative meat base that is cooked in boiling water until tender before serving.
- Eggs
- Fried whole on top of the ham, where their proteins set into a tender cooked layer.
The step that matters
Turning the boiled ham while it renders. Turning the slices keeps the fat from burning before it becomes transparent and the meat browns evenly, so the ham stays flavourful rather than scorched.
“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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