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Cheese and Ham Fritters

A fried batter of ham, cheese, flour, eggs, and butter baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cheese and Ham Fritters

Oven, in the book's wordsA medium oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a medium oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the choux paste

  1. In a saucepan, combine water and butter; bring to a boil.

  2. Stir in flour until a paste forms, then remove from heat and let cool.

  3. Once cool, mix in eggs and Parmesan cheese until smooth.

  4. Add the ham to the Parmesan cheese fritter preparation.

Bake and serve

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a buttered baking dish.

  2. Brush the tops with beaten egg and sprinkle with Gruyère cheese.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden and serve hot.

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 + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the starch paste that gives the fritters their structure once cooked.
Eggs
Bind the paste and set during baking, giving a light, custardy interior.
Butter
Enriches the boiled water base, adding fat for tenderness and flavor.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savory flavor and helps the fritters brown as they bake.

The step that matters

Let the paste cool before adding the eggs. If the paste is still hot, the eggs can scramble or cook unevenly instead of blending smoothly. Cooling to lukewarm lets the eggs emulsify into a smooth batter that rises and sets evenly in the oven.

“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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