Why it works: Ham and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,638 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Fried Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Heat a frying pan until very hot.
Rub the bottom of the pan with a piece of fat pork.
Add the ham slices and fry quickly, turning to brown both sides.
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.
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Ham + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,638 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
What each ingredient does
- Thinly sliced ham
- Is the main food cooked; quick frying browns its surface and gives a savoury, slightly crisp edge.
- Fat pork
- Greases the hot pan so the ham does not stick and fries in its own fat.
The step that matters
Fry the ham quickly over high heat. A very hot pan browns the surface fast through the Maillard reaction before the thin slices dry out and toughen. Turning once lets both sides brown evenly.
“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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