Name: Ham Loaf
Ingredients: 1 ½ lbs veal, chopped; ¼ cup melted butter; ¼ cup ham, chopped; 1 teaspoon salt; Less than ½ cup cracker crumbs; Plenty of pepper; 2 eggs, well beaten; 4 tablespoons cream

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 Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, combine the veal, melted butter, chopped ham, salt, cracker crumbs, pepper, and beaten eggs. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan and smooth the top.

Bake and serve

Bake for 1 ½ hours.
Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,264 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Provides the main body of the loaf and a tender, meaty texture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture together and help it set as it bakes.
Cracker crumbs: Absorb moisture and help hold the loaf together with a soft structure.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Ham: Adds savory, salty flavor throughout the loaf.

“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.