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 ↓
Fried Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Fill a frying pan with lard or grease to about half full.
Carefully drop in the eggs, avoiding breaking the yolks.
If desired, turn the eggs to cook both sides.
Remove the eggs carefully without breaking them.
If using a common frying pan, ensure enough grease to nearly cover the eggs.
Fry the eggs carefully, dipping the pan over the surface.
Do not overcrowd the pan; keep eggs separated.
For better shape, use muffin rings in the pan and drop the eggs into them.
If the edges are ragged after cooking, trim them.
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
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