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Ham Loaf

A baked loaf made from minced ham, breadcrumbs, egg, milk, butter, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Loaf

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.

Prepare the ham

  1. Boil the ham shank until tender.

  2. Strain the cooking liquid and boil mustard greens in it.

  3. Remove the ham from the bone and mince it finely.

Form the loaf

  1. In a bowl, combine the minced ham, cracker or bread crumbs, egg, milk, butter, and pepper.

  2. Form the mixture into a loaf.

  3. Place the loaf in a pan with 1 cup of water around it.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.

  2. Serve hot with horseradish sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Minced ham
Provides the main body and meaty flavor of the loaf.
Cracker or bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help the loaf hold its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it sets firm when baked.
Milk
Adds moisture so the loaf stays tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Placing the water around the loaf. Water in the pan turns to steam during baking, keeping the surrounding heat gentler and the loaf moist. Without it, the outside can dry out and toughen before the centre sets.

“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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