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Ham Toast

A toast topped with a mixture of chopped ham, beaten egg yolks, butter, cream or milk, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ham topping

  1. Mix the chopped ham, egg yolks, butter, cream or milk, and pepper until combined.

  2. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring until it thickens.

Assemble and serve

  1. Dip the toast briefly in hot salted water.

  2. Spread the toast with melted butter.

  3. Top the toast with the ham mixture.

  4. Serve hot.

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

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

  2. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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, binding it into a soft spread.
Ham
Provides the savory, salty flavor that forms the main body of the topping.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth texture to the topping and the toast.
Cream or rich milk
Adds moisture so the mixture becomes soft and spreadable.

The step that matters

Heating the ham mixture over low heat. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but high heat can scramble them into lumps. Gentle heat with constant stirring keeps the mixture smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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