Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Stuffed Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the eggs
Boil the eggs hard.
Place them in cold water until cool.
Remove the shells.
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise.
Remove the yolks.
Make the filling
Soak the stale bread in tepid water for 5 minutes.
Wring the bread dry in a towel.
Combine the grated cheese, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, butter, and cream sauce in a saucepan.
Rub the yolks through a colander.
Mix the yolks with the bread in the saucepan.
Stir the mixture until it pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Stuff and heat
On a hot platter, spread a layer of cream sauce.
Fill the egg whites with the mixture, rounding it up high.
Heat the stuffed eggs in a moderate oven until warmed through.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Hard-boiled yolks and whites form the body of the filling and the shell that holds it.
- Stale bread
- Soaked and wrung dry, it binds the yolks into a smooth, firm filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the filling a smooth, mellow texture.
- Cream sauce
- Supplies moisture and richness so the filling stays soft and creamy when heated.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savory flavor and some body to the filling.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture until it pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cooking the yolk, bread, and fats together while stirring drives off excess moisture and thickens the filling. If it stays loose, it will spread rather than hold its rounded shape when stuffed and heated.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, bread, cheese, pepper, butter, cream, sauce):
- Figfits about as well
- Plumfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Strawberryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, bread, cheese, pepper, butter, cream, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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