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Ham and Eggs

A quick pan‑fried dish of diced ham, eggs, butter, pepper, and chives or onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and chive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,885 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Ham and Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a chafing dish.

  2. Add the diced ham and pepper, and cook for a minute.

  3. Stir in the chopped chives or onions.

  4. Add the eggs and stir constantly until cooked.

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. Pepper + chivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + chivetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

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

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

  5. 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

Butter
Adds richness and carries heat across the pan so the other ingredients cook evenly.
Lean boiled ham
Contributes savory, salty flavor and a slightly firm, chewy bite.
Eggs
Their proteins set as they heat, forming soft, tender curds that give the dish its body.
Chives or onions
Add a fresh, sharp aroma and mild flavor that balances the richness of the eggs.

The step that matters

Stir the eggs constantly until cooked. Egg proteins set quickly with heat. Constant stirring keeps the curds small and tender, while letting them sit overcooks the eggs, making them dry and rubbery.

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ham, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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