Name: A Nice Breakfast Dish
Ingredients: cold boiled ham, finely chopped; cracker crumbs, equal amount to ham; butter, a good piece; hot water, enough to moisten; eggs, one for each depression

Why it works: Ham and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

A Nice Breakfast Dish

Ingredients

cold boiled ham, finely chopped
cracker crumbs, equal amount to ham
butter, a good piece
hot water, enough to moisten
eggs, one for each depression

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Combine the chopped ham and cracker crumbs in a bowl.
Add a piece of butter and enough hot water to moisten the mixture; mix well.

Bake

Transfer the mixture to a deep dish and create depressions in the top.
Crack an egg into each depression.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until the eggs are set and the top is nicely browned.

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.

Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled ham: Provides the savoury meaty base of the casserole.
Cracker crumbs: Absorb moisture and bind with the ham to form a firm base for the eggs.
Eggs: Set during baking to hold the casserole together and give it a custard-like texture.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Adding the hot water. The water must moisten the crumb and ham mixture evenly without making it soggy. Too much liquid stops the base from holding its shape and keeps the eggs from setting cleanly.

“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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A Nice Breakfast Dish