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Ham Toast

Ham Toast is a toasted bread spread with a mixture of chopped ham, egg yolks, butter, cream, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Boil the ham until cooked, then chop finely.

Make the topping

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped ham with the beaten egg yolks, butter, cream, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring until it thickens.

Serve

  1. Spread the mixture on hot toast.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they cook and give it a rich, smooth body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a silky texture that carries the ham flavour.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, loosening the mixture so it spreads easily.
Lean ham
Provides the savoury main flavour and the substance of the topping.

The step that matters

Cook over low heat, stirring until it thickens. Egg yolks set when heated, and they can scramble if the heat is too high or the mixture sits still. Gentle heat with constant stirring keeps the yolks smooth and thickened.

“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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