Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Ham Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Bring the water to a boil.
Stir in the flour and beat well until the batter leaves the sides of the pot.
Remove from heat and beat in the eggs one at a time.
Add the ham and seasonings.
Fry and serve
Drop the batter from a spoon into smoking-hot fat.
Cook until brown and drain on soft paper.
Serve with white sauce or cabbage salad.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + hamtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,516 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Provides the starch structure that holds the puffs together as they cook.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter puff and set when fried.
- Cooked ham
- Supplies the savory meaty flavor throughout the batter.
- Water
- Forms the liquid base that turns to steam, helping the puffs rise.
The step that matters
Drop the batter into smoking-hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and becomes greasy instead of puffing and browning quickly. Hot fat sets the outside fast so the steam inside lifts the puff.
“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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