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Ham Canapes

Ham canapes are fried bread topped with a ham paste and Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Ham Canapes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the base

  1. Cut the bread into circles using a French cutter.

  2. Fry the bread in hot deep fat until golden brown.

Make the topping

  1. Pound the ham into a paste, adding cream as needed.

  2. Season the mixture with paprika or cayenne pepper.

Assemble and brown

  1. Spread the ham mixture on the fried bread.

  2. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

  3. Brown in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

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).

  2. Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Ham + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together144 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Parmesan cheese + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Ham + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped boiled ham
Forms the savory paste that makes up the canape topping.
Cream
Adds moisture so the pounded ham holds together as a spreadable paste.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns in the oven, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Bread
Forms the crisp fried base that holds the topping.

The step that matters

Fry the bread in hot deep fat until golden brown. Fat at the right temperature crisps the bread quickly and evenly. If the fat is too cool, the bread absorbs grease and turns soggy, so it cannot hold the topping.

“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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