Why it works: Lime and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,658 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Lime Method
Ingredients
Directions
Make the limewater
Dissolve the lime in the boiled and cooled water.
Allow the mixture to stand until the lime settles and the liquid is clear.
Preserve the eggs
Place the clean eggs in a clean earthenware crock or jar.
If desired, add salt to the limewater before pouring.
Pour the clear limewater over the eggs until they are covered, ensuring at least 2 inches of solution above the top layer of eggs.
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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Lime + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,658 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Unslaked lime
- Forms an alkaline solution that slowly sets the egg white and yolk during preservation.
- Eggs
- The food being preserved; their shell and contents are protected by the alkaline liquid.
- Salt
- Optional; adds flavour to the preserved eggs.
The step that matters
Pouring the limewater over the eggs. The eggs must stay fully submerged, with at least 2 inches of clear solution above them, so no part is exposed to air. Exposed eggs can spoil, and the alkaline liquid works evenly only when every egg is covered.
“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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