Name: Scalloped Squash
Ingredients: 2 cups squash, boiled and mashed; 2 large eggs, yolks only; 3 tablespoons milk; 1 tablespoon butter, melted and mixed with flour; coarse sea salt to taste; black pepper to taste; fine bread crumbs for topping

Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Scalloped Squash

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

2 cups squash, boiled and mashed
2 large eggs, yolks only
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted and mixed with flour
coarse sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
fine bread crumbs for topping

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

Let the boiled and mashed squash cool.
Beat the yolks of the eggs and whip them into the cooled squash.
Add the milk and melted butter mixed with flour.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake and serve

Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish.
Cover with fine bread crumbs.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until light brown.
Serve hot.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Squash: Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it its soft, moist body.
Eggs: Egg yolks bind the squash and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness to the mixture so it bakes tender rather than dry.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, and with the flour helps thicken the mixture slightly.

The step that matters

Whipping the yolks into the cooled squash. If the squash is still hot, it can begin to scramble the yolks before baking, leaving a grainy texture. Cooling it first keeps the mixture smooth and evenly set.

“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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Scalloped Squash