Why it works: Ham and apple work together. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 108 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Panned Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim the rind from the ham slice, leaving a ½ inch rim of fat.
Make gashes an inch apart along the fat.
If using apples, wipe, core, and slice them into ⅓ inch thick rounds.
Cook and serve
Heat an iron pan until smoking hot and add the ham.
Turn the ham every two minutes until browned on both sides.
After the ham is done, cook the apple slices in the remaining grease until browned and tender, then place them around the ham.
Remove the ham to a heated platter and serve alone or with cream sauce.
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 + appletop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together108 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the main meat; its fat rim and searing develop browned, savory flavor.
- Sour apples
- Adds tart acidity that balances the rich, salty ham fat.
The step that matters
Heating the pan until smoking hot before adding the ham. A very hot pan sears the surface quickly, creating browning and reducing sticking. A cooler pan lets the ham steam and turn grey and tough instead of browning.
“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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