Why it works: Egg and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Eggs, Poached, with Ham
4 eggs, 4 slices of toastIngredients
Directions
Prepare
Poach the eggs in simmering water until the whites are set.
While the eggs are cooking, warm the chopped ham in a pan.
Assemble and serve
Place a slice of buttered toast on each plate.
Top each toast with a portion of the warmed ham and a poached egg.
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.
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Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Eggs
- Set whites and rich yolks form the main body and centre of the dish.
- Cooked ham
- Adds savoury, salty flavour and a chewy texture contrasting the soft egg.
- Buttered toast
- Provides a crisp, golden base and fat that holds up the egg and ham.
The step that matters
Poaching the eggs until the whites are set. Eggs cook through gradually in simmering water; if the water boils hard the whites tear and spread, and if the eggs are left too long the yolks firm up. Stopping when the whites are just set keeps the yolks runny.
“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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