Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Minced Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Make the ham and egg
Brown a small piece of butter in a stewpan.
Add ½ cup of finely minced ham and enough gravy to make it moist.
When thoroughly hot, quickly stir in 1 egg with a fork.
Prepare the toast and serve
For the toast, soak in hot salted milk with a little butter added.
Serve hot on toast.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the savoury, meaty base of the filling.
- Egg
- Stirred in while hot, it sets into soft curds that bind the filling.
- Gravy
- Adds moisture so the minced ham stays tender rather than dry.
- Butter
- Browned first to add richness and a nutty aroma to the filling.
- Toast
- Acts as the crisp base that holds the hot filling.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg. Add the egg only when the mixture is thoroughly hot and stir quickly with a fork. Egg proteins set with heat, so stirring it in fast keeps the curds small and soft instead of letting it turn rubbery or scrambled in large lumps.
“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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