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Ham Puffs

Ham Puffs are deep‑fried batter cakes containing ham, curry powder, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ham Puffs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the flour and mix until the batter leaves the sides of the saucepan.

  3. Remove from heat and beat in the eggs one at a time.

  4. Add the ham, curry powder, cayenne, and salt if needed.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat deep lard in a pan until boiling.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot lard, about the size of a hen's egg.

  3. Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.

  4. Serve in a pyramid on cut paper or a folded napkin, garnished with parsley.

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. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

  5. Flour + hamtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and help the puffs rise and set into a light, hollow texture.
Flour
Forms the structure of the batter, which sets around the steam to give the puffs their body.
Water
Turns to steam in the boiling batter, helping the puffs expand as they cook.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour and richness throughout the batter.

The step that matters

Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.. The lard must be boiling before the batter goes in. Hot fat seals the outside quickly so the puffs rise and crisp rather than absorbing grease and turning heavy.

“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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