Name: Stuffed Eggs
Ingredients: 6 hard boiled eggs; 1/2 cup finely minced dried beef or ham; 2 teaspoons mixed mustard; 1 tablespoon butter (size of a hickory nut); 1/4 teaspoon pepper; 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); Bechamel Sauce (for serving)

Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stuffed Eggs

Ingredients

6 hard boiled eggs
1/2 cup finely minced dried beef or ham
2 teaspoons mixed mustard
1 tablespoon butter (size of a hickory nut)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
Bechamel Sauce (for serving)

Directions

Prepare

Cut the hard boiled eggs in half and remove the yolks.
Mix the yolks with the minced dried beef or ham, mustard, butter, pepper, and salt.

Stuff and serve

Stuff each egg half with the yolk mixture.
Place the stuffed eggs on a warm dish and serve with Bechamel Sauce.

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.

Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Egg yolks: Form the creamy filling that holds the stuffed egg shape together.
Dried beef or ham: Adds salty, savory flavor to the yolk filling.
Butter: Adds fat that makes the yolk filling smoother and richer.
Mixed mustard: Adds sharp acidity that cuts through the richness of the yolks.