Ham and eggs is a dish combining various preparations of its main ingredients, ham and eggs.
Eggs served with the dish can be fried, scrambled or poached.
Additional ingredients such as tomatoes and seasonings, such as Herbes de Provence, are sometimes used.
The dish can be prepared on a stovetop in a skillet or frying pan, and also baked or broiled in an oven.
The pan juices or gravy from the ham is sometimes drizzled atop the eggs to add flavor.
The dish’s quality can be enhanced by using high-quality ham and cooking the ingredients over low heat, which prevents overcooking.
A recipe for country-style ham and eggs includes reducing cream in the pan after the ham and eggs have been cooked, and then dolloping it atop the dish.
Ham and eggs can be accompanied with side dishes such as toast and hash browns, among others.
The dish has been described as a staple of “an old-fashioned American breakfast” and of the traditional English breakfast.
It is also consumed as a dinner or supper dish, for example in parts of the Southern United States, and is sometimes served as a lunch dish.
Bacon and eggs is a similar dish, as is Eggs Benedict, which is prepared using bacon, Canadian bacon or ham and poached eggs as main ingredients.
Spanish eggs consists of ham and eggs served atop heavily seasoned boiled rice.
Ham and eggs are two of the main ingredients in the Denver omelette.
Ham and egg bun is a type of Hong Kong pastry. It is a bun or bread that contains a sheet of egg and ham. It is commonly found in Hong Kong as well as some Chinatown bakery shops overseas. It is also a common meal in Brazil, called simply as sandwich.
The word “ham” is derived from the Old English ham or hom meaning the hollow or bend of the knee, from a Germanic base where it meant “crooked”. It gained the meaning of the leg of an animal around
the 15th century.
Ham is produced by curing raw pork by salting, also known as dry curing, or brining, also known as wet curing. The curing process both preserves the meat allowing it to be stored, or brought on travels for later consumption, as well as giving it additional flavor. Besides salt, several ingredients may
be used to obtain flavoring and preservation, from black pepper to saffron.
The structural components of the egg include the shell (10 percent), the albumen or white (60 percent), and the yolk (30 percent).
The whole egg is a source of high-quality protein. In addition, it is an excellent source of all vitamins (except vitamin C) and contains many essential minerals, including phosphorus and zinc.
A 50-gram (1.8 oz) medium/large chicken egg provides approximately 70 calories (290 kJ) of food energy.
The term “ham and eggs” and some variations of it have been used in various cultural contexts. It has been used as a slang term in the United States, and has also been used to refer to various entities and events in the United States.
“Ham and eggs” or “ham and egger” can refer to an ordinary, unskilled or mediocre person. A specific example of this is a boxer “with a minimum of talent” – “ham and egger” occurs in this context in the original Rocky film, filmed in 1975, when Rocky downplays his chances as a title contender, referring to himself as “really a ham-and-egger”.
Similarly, “ham and egger” / “ham and egging” are both used in rhyming slang to describe a “beggar”, and the act of “begging”, respectively.
“Like ham and eggs” refers to things that typically go together and are difficult to separate.
Duncan Hines, an American entrepreneur, often enjoyed ham and eggs as a supper meal. He said that people should choose ham and eggs as a meal at a diner when uncertain about what to order, because cooks cannot “disguise a bad egg nor spoil a slice of good ham.”
According to his own account, on one occasion in 1899, Hines ordered five dollars’ ($143.60 in 2015 dollars) worth of ham and eggs at Harry Hynd’s Restaurant in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a very large amount of food. Hines had hardly anything to eat for four days, having had to walk about 16 miles (26
km) to Cheyenne after his horse gave out. About 3.2 km (2 miles) into his hike, he had been given a few scraps of food by a hermit, after which he continued to Cheyenne, with five inches of snow on the ground. The counter person initially refused the order, saying that it would be impossible to finish it, but Hines was eventually provided with a large platter of ham and eggs and ate it all. Years later he wrote that nothing else had tasted as good as that platter of ham and eggs at that time.