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Rations of Bacon, or Ham

A dish of sliced bacon or ham, broiled or baked, sometimes rolled and skewered, served with bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread 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 ↓

Rations of Bacon, or Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut bacon or ham into slices no thicker than ¼ inch.

  2. For broiling, create a paper drip pan by turning up the edges and twisting the corners.

Cook

  1. Place the slices on a griddle over an open fire and cook until golden brown on both sides.

  2. For curling, cut the rations into 2‑inch long pieces, roll them up, and skewer with a wire.

  3. Cook in a Dutch oven or cheese toaster, turning until browned, about 8‑10 minutes.

  4. For warming slices of cold ham or bacon, sprinkle with bread crumbs and brown in a cheese toaster for about 5 minutes.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bacon or ham
Provides the meat that browns and crisps, giving the dish its savory flavor and texture.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned coating on cold slices when warmed in a cheese toaster.

The step that matters

Turning the slices while they brown. Browning depends on direct, even contact with heat. Turning the slices lets both sides brown evenly and keeps thin pieces from scorching on one side before the other has crisped.

“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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