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Ham Ramakins

Baked ham and eggs in ramekins with herbs, mustard, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Ramakins

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter 8 ramekin dishes.

  3. Beat 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks together.

Make the filling

  1. Add the ham, cream, herbs, mustard, salt, and pepper; mix well.

  2. Fill each ramekin with the mixture until three-quarters full.

Bake

  1. Bake until set, about 20-25 minutes.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

  4. Ham + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard so the ham mixture holds together when baked.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the custard tender rather than dry.
Ham
Provides the savory meat flavor and bulk of the filling.
Mustard
Adds sharp, savory flavor that balances the richness of the eggs and cream.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs thicken as their proteins coagulate with heat. Pulling the ramekins before they are set leaves a runny custard, while overbaking makes it rubbery and watery as the proteins tighten and squeeze out liquid.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, cream, pepper. 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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