Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Panned Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the base
In a bowl, combine chopped ham, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and melted butter.
Moisten the mixture with milk to form a soft paste.
Half fill patty pans with the mixture.
Add the eggs and bake
Carefully break an egg on top of each filled patty pan.
Dust with additional pepper and salt, then sprinkle with powdered crackers.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 8 minutes.
Serve hot.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs (in the method)
- Set into a firm, creamy centre as they cook on top of the ham mixture.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the melted butter and milk to form a soft paste that holds its shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping the crumbs brown lightly and carrying flavour.
- Milk
- Moistens the crumbs so the base stays tender rather than dry.
- Chopped ham
- Provides savoury, salty flavour and a meaty texture in the base.
The step that matters
Carefully break an egg on top of each filled patty pan. Breaking the egg carefully keeps the yolk whole and centred. Eggs set quickly in the oven, so an uneven or broken yolk can cook unevenly or spread into the base.
“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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