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Ham Ram Akins

Minced ham pounded with seasoning, baked in a pie dish, then pressed into small pots and sealed with clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Ham Ram Akins

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the ham

  1. Pass the ham through a mincing machine or chop it finely.

  2. Pound the ham in a mortar with the seasoning.

  3. Rub the pounded ham through a fine sieve.

Bake and pot

  1. Put the mixture into a buttered pie dish and cover with buttered paper.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

  3. When done, press the mixture into small pots.

Finish

  1. Once cooled, cover with clarified butter.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Provides the meat that forms the body and savoury flavour of the ramekins.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and keeps the mixture from drying during baking.
Clarified butter
Forms a sealed top layer that protects the ham from air and preserves it.

The step that matters

Pressing the ham through a fine sieve. Rubbing the pounded ham through a fine sieve breaks down remaining fibres and lumps, giving a smooth, even texture once set. Skipping this leaves a coarser, uneven spread.

“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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