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Ham Balls

Ham Balls are small fried balls made from bread crumbs, eggs, and chopped boiled ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Ham Balls

Why it works: Bread and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs and beaten eggs together.

  2. Add the chopped cold, boiled ham and combine well.

Form and cook

  1. Form the mixture into balls.

  2. Fry the balls in a pan until golden brown.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 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

Bread crumbs
Absorb the egg and bind the ham, giving the balls body and a soft, tender structure.
Eggs
Bind the crumbs and ham together so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Cold, boiled ham
Provides the main flavour and substance of the balls.

The step that matters

Fry the balls in a pan until golden brown. Frying at a steady heat browns the outside through the Maillard reaction, adding flavour and colour. Too high a heat can scorch the outside before the centre is heated through, while too low a heat leaves the balls pale and greasy.

“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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