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Ham Cakes

Ham Cakes are fried patties made from chopped ham, mustard, egg, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the chopped ham, mixed mustard, beaten egg, and pepper in a bowl. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

  2. Shape the mixture into cakes using your hands, similar to fish cakes.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the cakes in ham fat or lard until they are a rich brown.

  2. Serve on a hot platter with bits of butter on top.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 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 main savoury flavour and bulk of the cakes.
Beaten egg
Binds the chopped ham so the mixture holds its shape when fried.
Mixed mustard
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the ham and fat.

The step that matters

Fry until a rich brown. Cooking over steady heat browns the outside through the Maillard reaction, which builds flavour and colour. Heat that is too high can scorch the outside before the centre is hot, so the cakes should be cooked through at a moderate heat.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, pepper, butter. 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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