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Ham Toast

A toast topped with a thickened ham and egg yolk mixture flavored with cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Boil the ham until cooked, then chop it finely.

Make the topping

  1. In a saucepan, combine the chopped ham, egg yolks, cream, butter, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Stir the mixture over low heat until it thickens.

Serve

  1. Spread the mixture on hot toast with the crust removed.

  2. Serve immediately.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 flavour that forms the body of the topping.
Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they set with gentle heat, giving it a creamy, spreadable texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the topping smooth rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel as it melts into the mixture.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture over low heat until it thickens. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the heat is too high they can scramble into lumps. Low heat and constant stirring keep the topping smooth.

“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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