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Broiled Ham

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Broiled Ham

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Broiled Ham

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Soak the ham slices in hot water for at least 30 minutes, changing the water several times.

  2. Dry the slices with a cloth and heat a grill or gridiron over a clear fire.

  3. Broil the ham slices until heated through.

  4. If using cold boiled ham, no soaking is needed before broiling.

  5. In a clean frying pan, heat lard until boiling.

  6. Crack each egg into a saucer, then gently slip them into the hot lard without turning.

  7. Pour hot lard over the eggs until the whites are set but the yolks remain visible.

  8. Trim any ragged edges from the eggs.

  9. Butter the bread slices and optionally spread a little mustard.

  10. Layer a slice of ham between two slices of bread, then top with a fried egg.

  11. Serve hot, either rolled or flat on plates.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Bread + mustardtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,484 recipes

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

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

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, bread, butter):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

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

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