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Ham Fritters

Ham fritters are small fried balls made from ham, butter, egg yolks, parsley, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Ham Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the ham, butter, egg yolks, parsley, and cayenne.

  2. Pound the mixture together until well blended.

  3. Form the mixture into small balls.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip each ball into the frying batter.

  2. Fry the balls in hot fat until golden brown.

  3. Drain on paper towels and serve hot, sprinkled with chopped parsley and cayenne pepper.

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 + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  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. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked ham
Provides the savoury meaty base of the fritter.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the mixture bind and stay tender.
Hard boiled egg yolks
Bind the mixture and add richness and a creamy texture.
Frying batter
Forms a crisp coating that browns as it fries.

The step that matters

Frying in hot fat. The fat must be hot enough to set and brown the batter quickly. If it is too cool, the coating absorbs excess oil and turns greasy before it crisps, and the balls may fall apart.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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