Why it works: Ham and egg 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 and Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the ham into even slices.
Remove the rind. If the ham is hard and salty, soak it in hot water for 10 minutes, then dry it with a cloth.
Place the ham slices in a cold frying pan and heat over the fire, turning the slices 3 or 4 times while cooking.
Once cooked, place the ham on a warm dish.
Poach the eggs and slip them onto the slices of ham.
Serve immediately.
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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Ham + eggtop 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
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