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Ham Croutes

A dish of ham and croutons topped with a creamy egg yolk mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ham Croutes

8 croutes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry the shallot in the butter until slightly browned.

  2. Add the ham and stir over heat until hot.

  3. Stir in the egg yolks and cream, season with pepper, and cook until the mixture thickens.

  4. Dish the mixture onto the croutons and serve sprinkled with parsley.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they set with gentle heat, giving a creamy, spreadable texture.
Butter
Fat that cooks the shallot gently and adds richness and flavour.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the yolk mixture smooth rather than grainy.
Ham
Main savoury flavour and body of the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture after the egg yolks go in. Egg yolks set when heated, but too much heat or too long cooking can curdle them into a grainy texture. Stir over gentle heat only until the mixture thickens.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

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